Revenge is a Dish Best Served with Snakes
by stephaleigh101
Summary: N'kata always lived in fear from the boy who could control the sand. She even left Suna to escape from him. But when Gaara shows up in Konoha to partake in the chunin exams, N'kata can't help but find herself drawn to the danger the Kazekage's son weilds. Rated M for crude language and lemons in later chapters. (I've made the characters a couple years older too.)
1. That Boy From the Desert

**A/N: I do not own Naruto or any characters except N'kata. The beginning follows the Anime storyline pretty closely so please bear with me. I will upload more chapters ASAP and I hope you enjoy. There is a reason I rated this story M, this part is very mild with no crude content, but it will show up as the story continues.**

All I ever wanted to be was a Shinobi. I was raised in the Village hidden in the Sand and lived in fear from him. The Kazekage's son Gaara was intimidating, my mother always told me to stay away from him. Why though? What was it about Gaara that was so scary? I remember sitting on the swings while some kids played with a ball. They threw it up too high and it landed on a ledge out of their reach. None of them had any jutsus to get it. Then the ball floated down on a cloud of sand, I gasped, it was incredible.

I only saw Gaara once or twice before, my mother always pulled me away before I could get a good look at him. He wasn't so scary; he was just a little boy, maybe my age or a bit younger. He was small and his face was kind. His eyes were bright green and lined with black. He had a smile on his face. His short auburn hair was a spiky mess. He approached the kids with the ball in his hands and passed it to them.

"RUN!" They screamed and all darted off. I stayed on the swings, no one could see me, so I was safe. But what was there to be scared of? All he did was give the ball back. I thought the way he controlled sand was awesome, I had to learn a jutsu like that. If I was ever going to be a Sand Shinobi I'd have to have power like that.

"Wait." Gaara called out, and the sand emerged around him and chased the kids, grabbing a girl by the ankle and pulling her back.

My eyes widened, what kind of jutsu it that? He was only six, how could he have that kind of power? Now I understood why my mother never let me go near him. That was scary. I hopped down from the swings and ran before I could see anything else.

"MOTHER!" I screamed racing through the door of my home. My heart was racing; I had to tell her what I saw. My mother appeared from the kitchen, her big brown eyes filled with concern. She had blonde hair like mine, which she kept tied up neatly in a bun.

"What is it N'kata? Where have you been?"

"I saw it mother! I saw Gaara use his sand powers, it was…it was so cool to see it."

My face stung with pain as my mother slapped me.

"Mother?" I sobbed; she'd never hit me before.

"What were you thinking you stupid child? I told you to never go near that boy! He's dangerous! He's a monster!"

An undying silence filled the room my mother was enraged. I stared up at her, my eyes filled with tears. I saw him, he wasn't a monster, he was just lonely.

"You're wrong!" I shouted. "I'm gonna learn that jutsu mother you'll see! I'll be a Sand Shinobi just like Gaara! I'll make the sand listen to me like he does!"

"You think he's a Shinobi! He's just a boy with an evil demon inside him! You'll never be able to do the things he does you stupid child!"

A few days later my mother and I left the village and migrated to The Village Hidden in the Leaves. As Gaara killed more and more people, my mother became scared and we snuck away from the village in the night. I had a hard time adjusting to the Hidden Leaf Village, and I never gave up on my goal to control the sand like Gaara.

I stood in the schoolyard of the Ninja Academy, focusing all of my chakra on the ground beneath me.

"Ninja art! Sand Shield Jutsu!" I called, forcing my chakra down to the dirt and pulling it up to create a barrier. I was so tired, the jutsu was taking away all of my chakra. The barrier only lasted for a second before falling back to the ground. I sunk to my knees, breathing uncontrollably.

"Interesting jutsu, I've never seen a Leaf Ninja try something like that." Iruka-sensei clapped his hands twice and sat across from me as I tried to regain my breath.

"Sorry Iruka-sensei, I…I'm just practicing."

"You've been doing this for hours N'kata, even jonin need a break sometimes. Why don't you go home?"

I shook my head. "No Iruka-sensei, I have to keep practicing, how am I going to get better if I don't keep practicing?"

"Hmm…if you keep going the way that you are you're going to run out of chakra, heck I can already see your chakra is practically gone. You're gonna pass out soon."

"The genin exams are tomorrow sensei. I can't fail them!"

"You've got some of the best grades in the academy N'kata. Passing the genin exams won't be a challenge for you, but this jutsu you're doing, it's not safe for a ninja at your level."

"Ha! You Leaf Ninja don't know anything do you?" I shot.

Iruka-sensei widened his eyes, I never snapped at him before. I always treated my sensei with respect, but this was something I couldn't give up on.

"I saw it sensei! I saw a little boy manipulate the sand like it was a second nature! And if he can have that kind of power then why can't I?" I rose up to my feet and immediately crashed back down to my knees. My chakra was practically drained. Iruka-sensei was right.

"Power isn't the most important thing about being a ninja N'kata."

"Huh?" I stared up at Iruka-sensei, what did he mean?

"Hey Iruka-sensei!"

I weakly turn my head to the hyperactive blonde boy in an orange jumpsuit. I've seen him in my classes, he's a complete idiot, he couldn't even perform a shadow clone jutsu. Iruka-sensei smiles at Naruto Uzumaki as he runs at us in full speed. For a total idiot, he was kind of cute, his big blue eyes were filled with determination, his smile was stretched from ear to ear, how could he be so happy? Even I knew he was failing the genin exams.

"C'mon Iruka-sensei! You said we're getting ramen! I'm starving! Hurry up will ya?" I stared at the three black marks on each side of his face, I always wondered about those.

Did this guy only think with his stomach? What a loser! I rose up to my feet and brushed passed him. I didn't realize I was being so rude; usually I'm not like this.

"Hey what's the big idea?" Naruto shouted as he grabbed my shoulder and flipped me around to face him. Dammit! I don't wanna start a fight! I barely have enough chakra in my body to move.

"Sorry Naruto." His eyes widened, as if no one has ever apologized to him before. "I'm having a really bad day."

"Oh…well hey how about you come with us to get ramen? I mean Iruka-sensei is treating. Nothing makes you feel better than ramen!"

"Agh! NARUTO!" Iruka-sensei crossed his arms and glared down at him. These two were so weird together.

"No thanks. I'm not hungry. I'll see you tomorrow Iruka-sensei."

I force one foot in front of the other as I weakly attempt to walk home. That jutsu took so much out of me my whole body ached. I made it half way home before my legs gave out. I collapsed to the ground and began coughing my lungs out. I could taste blood in my mouth and as I looked at the dirt below me I saw the blood dripping from my lips to the ground. Maybe I was overworking myself after all. I focused on breathing and getting back on my feet. The whole time I had the little boy Gaara in the back of my mind. He was so powerful, and he was so little, maybe not anymore, he'd be my age too.

_His bright green eyes glared at me._

"_Wait! Don't go!" He cried, releasing the sand after the whole group._

_AHHHHH!_

I collapsed to the ground _this is so humiliating_. I couldn't even control my chakra enough to let me stand and walk home.

"N'kata!" I hear my mother's voice calling as my eyes begin to fail me.

_Wait! Don't go!_

_He's got a demon inside of him! He's a monster!_

_You're wrong!_

_Please! Don't go!_

"Gaara!" I yelp, jolting up in my bed. My heart is pounding. Why is Gaara haunting me like this? It's been six years since that day, maybe even seven. My breathing feels like it's out of control. My whole body writhes when I get out of bed, jeez, this was so pathetic! I pulled on a pair of tan shorts and a bright blue T-shirt. I pull my messy blonde hair into a ponytail and head down the stairs from my room to the front door. My mother is nowhere in sight. Good. I reach for the doorknob; I had to get to the academy early for the genin exams.

"And where do you think you're going N'kata?" My mother's voice sounds from the kitchen. How did she even see me? Ugh!

"Mother the genin exams are today, I have to get there early and practice my jutus!" I nonchalantly scratch the back of my head and turn around to face her. Jeez, she must have had eyes in the back of her head.

"N'kata, I found you face down in the middle of the street yesterday with blood in your mouth. Whatever you're doing you have to stop. You're going to kill yourself if you keep behaving the way that you are."

_Knock_

_Knock_

I thank the visitor at the door. I didn't want to argue with my mother, not today. I opened the door and smiled at one of my only friends at the academy Hinata Hyuga. Her short black hair framed her face and made her light lavender eyes pop; she was wearing navy blue pants and a beige jacket with fur around the bottom.

"Hi N'kata, um… I heard you passed out yesterday, I wanted to make sure you were okay."

I frowned; did someone see me fall before my mother found me? "I'm fine Hinata, thank you. I was just leaving for the academy to do some training. You wanna come with me?"

"Um…okay." Hinata whispered. She was so shy and so quiet, she had a long way to go but she was smart.

I said goodbye to my mother and began walking with Hinata to the academy.

"I've been having a lot of nightmares lately Hinata, I can't help but feel like there's something wrong."

"Oh. My father used to say that nightmares are just your mind's way of fighting you."

"Hmm. I wish your father was right Hinata, but where I come from, its more than your mind fighting you, it's usually a warning. Sometimes I wish I had eyes like yours, then I could see anything."

"Um…well it…it doesn't really work…like that…N'kata." Hinata whimpered.

I shrugged, I didn't fully understand her eyes, there were a lot of different kekkei genkai out there and I didn't have any. On some level I was jealous of Hinata, not that I ever let her know it, she was so sweet, I could never say or do anything to hurt her feelings.

We arrived at the Academy and ran into Naruto, who looked psyched as ever. Why was he always so happy? Little idiot. Hinata's face flushed ten shades of red. It was completely obvious to everyone around her that she had a thing for Naruto, well to everyone except Naruto.

"Um…hi Naruto…" Hinata whispered while blushing. "Good luck on the exams today…I'm…I'm sure you'll do great."

I bit my lip to prevent myself from laughing. Hinata was way too friendly. She looked over to me, waiting for me to say something to him, like I was supposed to care.

"You need all the luck you can get Naruto." I give him a fake smile and prepare to walk away, but Naruto had to get offended and challenge me.

"Wait a sec! What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto huffed.

"Um…I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it… Naruto." Hinata jumped weakly to my defense.

"I have to go train." I cut in and strode past Naruto, leaving him and Hinata be. If she was smart she'd use the time to talk to him. "Good luck Naruto. I hope you do well."

"Huh?" I could see the confusion in Naruto's face. What was with him and being surprised with compliments?

I found myself back in the training arena, and not alone. Usually I was alone, especially this early, but I guess with the exams, more ninja wanted to get last minute training in. I knew who he was just from the symbol on the back of his blue shirt. It was the symbol of the Uchiha clan. I didn't blush and gawk like the other girls in the Academy, I wasn't ridiculously obsessed with Sasuke Uchiha. I didn't even bother talking to him, I grabbed my kunai knives from a purple pouch attached to my shorts and leaped up, throwing them at the target mid-air and flipping around to land on my feet as the knives hit the target above Sasuke.

He shrugs his head at me, glaring through his onyx eyes that peeked through his jet-black hair that spiked up at the back. I could imagine Sasuke spending hours in front of a mirror with gallons of hair gel to make it look like that.

"Mind sparring?" I asked, walking to the tree and grabbing my kunai knives and putting all but one back into the pouch. The thing I liked about Sasuke was he was like me, he liked training, and he was a good ninja. I twirled my kunai knife around in my hand and took a firm grip, pointing it at Sasuke, who responded by pulling out his own knife and moved to attack.

He was fast, really fast. I never sparred with Sasuke before. I had to calculate where he'd end up. I caught him in my peripherals and whipped around, blocking his attack and punching my knee up into his stomach. He took the hit and swung his kunai again, just missing my face and kicked me in the jaw. I launched in the air, but did a flip to regain my balance so I could land on my feet. My grip tightened around my knife, I knew he was at the top of the class; I should have expected him to be an excellent fighter.

"We should get going. The exams are starting soon." He smirked and started walking towards Iruka-sensei's class. "You're not too bad, Any longer I might have broken a sweat."

I growled, as I stood behind him. He was good and he was cocky. I crossed my arms and followed him inside the academy.

"SASUKE!" was the first thing I heard upon entering the class. It was Ino Yamanaka, Sakura Haruno and a bunch of other girls in the class. What idiots, I knew lots about Sasuke Uchiha, he was about fighting, not girls. Ino and Sakura were wasting their time. Whatever, it wasn't my problem. I took a seat next to Hinata and rested my head on my desk. Sparring with Sasuke was tiring; I did so many flips and dodged him so much I felt like I did an hour workout. I had such a headache, and it only got worse when Naruto came into the class, all high and mighty and proclaiming he was gonna be the next Hokage. I curled my hand into a fist; did this guy not know how to keep his mouth shut?

_Please! Don't go!_

I shot my head back and rammed it into the desk behind me. That pleading little boy was following me everywhere. Hinata looked at me with concern in her lavender eyes. Iruka-sensei was glaring at me, along with every other set of eyes in the class. When did class start? I could have sworn I only put my head down for a second. I didn't realize I was shaking until Hinata put her hand on my wrist and made me stop.

"Now that everyone's awake, let's start the exams shall we?" Iruka-sensei announced and had us all line up in front of him.

"That was too easy!" I complained to Hinata as we walked home.

"Well…it was just genin exams…I think everyone passed it…except…except Naruto."

"Oh c'mon Hinata, you and I both knew he was never going to pass those exams!"

I wished I never said those words, at least not to Hinata. "You haven't seen how hard he's worked to get to where he is now! I've seen him train every day for hours and…"

"Okay!" I stopped her before she could keep lecturing me. "Sorry." I rolled my eyes. Note to self: Never insult Naruto around Hinata; I should have already known that. Sometimes I'm such an idiot. I had to change the subject somehow. Thankfully Hinata was thinking the same thing.

"I hope we get put into the same squad."

I nodded in agreement, Hinata was the only person I was really comfortable with, and the only one I spoke to regularly.

My stomach grumbled as we walked past the Ramen Ichiraku. "You hungry?" I wondered. Hinata nodded and we stepped inside the stand and took a seat on the wooden stools. After we ate, Hinata and I said our goodbyes and separated to go home.

**A/N: Told ya this part is pretty mild. Either way I hope you liked it.**


	2. Meeting Kakashi

_Don't leave me!_

_He's a freak!_

_N'kata get away!_

_Please! Don't go!_

_N'kata help me!_

I shot up again. Why couldn't I ever get a good night sleep? I showered and headed to the kitchen, where I found my mother making tea and dumplings for breakfast.

"Mother, can I ask you something?" I questioned as I kneeled at the table.

My mother set a cup of tea in front of me and smiled. "Of course you can."

"It's about the Kazekage's son. You said there was a demon inside him…what kind? And why did we have to leave the Sand Village?"

My mother's face dropped. "I hoped you forgot about that. N'kata, what happened in the Sand Village, it was a very long time ago. The Kazekage's son…see he killed people and he did it just because he could, he killed your aunt and uncle, and when that happened…I had to get you out. It became clear to me that the Kazekage wasn't planning on doing anything about all the people dying around his son. We can never go back N'kata. The Hidden Leaf Village is our home now.

I closed my eyes and nodded, I didn't remember my aunt and uncle, and I never knew it was Gaara that killed them.

"Did he kill my father too?" I whispered.

My mother closed her eyes and shook her head. "No N'kata, I've told you before, you have no father, you never did."

I sunk my head down. I never should have asked. I never should have said anything at all. My mother failed to answer the question about the demon, but I decided to let it go. I didn't have much time to waste asking pointless questions.

When the two faint knocks sounded at the door, I knew it was Hinata arriving to walk to the Academy with me. I said goodbye to my mother and answered the door.

"Hi N'kata." Naruto smirked with his arms crossed. I wasn't expecting to see him in the doorframe. What did he want? How did he know where I lived?

"Naruto." I muttered and crossed the threshold, shoving past him and started walking to Hinata's. Naruto caught up quickly. "You want something?"

"No. I was just…I…uh…I have a question about Sakura."

I rolled my eyes. "What makes you think I know anything about Sakura?"

"Well, because you're a girl and girls know everything about each other you know?"

"No. Shouldn't you be more focused on training? If you ever want to make genin you can't worry about anything else."

"What are you talking about? I passed the genin exams!"

"What?" I gasped. Naruto Uzumaki passed the genin exams? How? I smiled slightly. "Well good for you."

"So can you answer my question?" Naruto edged.

"Depends if I know the answer." I rolled my eyes.

"I wanna know if Sakura likes me."

Oh for the love of—seriously? What was wrong with people and these insignificant crushes? Hinata was not gonna like this, she was so head over heels in love with Naruto it was even driving me crazy. "I have no idea Naruto. I don't pay attention to all that."

"Humph! You're probably too busy paying attention to Sasuke! What is it about that guy that makes him so great?"

"I don't pay attention because I don't care. I'm glad you passed the exam Naruto, I'm sure you'll make a good genin."

"Are you kidding? I'm gonna be the greatest genin alive and I'm gonna be Hokage believe it!" Naruto exclaimed. He sure had spirit, I'll give him that much.

"See you around." I waved and continued on to Hinata's house.

Hinata was ecstatic when I told her Naruto passed the exam. The entire walk to the Academy the only thing she did was gawk about him. Oh jeez, I shouldn't have said anything. I sat next to the blushing Hinata and on my other side were Kiba Inuzuka and his dog Akamaru. Kiba flashed me a smile, showing off his sharp canine fangs. His black eyes were vertical slits, he reminded me of a wolf sometimes. I felt my face heat up and I quickly whipped my head down, staring at my desk. Akamaru barked as he poked his head out from Kiba's grey jacket lined with black fur around the cuffs and hood.

I could still see Kiba through my peripherals; he was still looking at me. I flushed, just as I was insulting Hinata for getting so red in the face whenever Naruto was around, Kiba had to sit next to me. Dammit, I could only hope Kiba and I weren't on the same squad, I wouldn't be able to concentrate. I kept my head down until Iruka-sensei started talking and assigning us to squads.

Everyone was set in squads of three, except me, apparently since Naruto passed the exams, that meant that there was an odd number of students, and I was the only one left over so I had no squad. This couldn't get any worse.

"Since we have one student left over, N'kata I'm putting you with Squad 7."

I was wrong. I was stuck with Mr. Proclamation Naruto Uzumaki, a moronic pink haired love-struck ditz, and Sasuke. You've got to be kidding me! Hinata, the lucky girl got to spend her time with Kiba and Shino, both had determination and skill. She'd do well with them.

"What the heck Iruka-sensei? Why am I stuck with him?" Naruto shouted.

"Sasuke got the highest marks in this class, Naruto you got the lowest, we had to create balance in the teams." Iruka said.

Balance, ha! I was the fourth wheel because of an uneven class. I moved away from Hinata and Kiba and sat next to Naruto.

"Just stay out of my way…loser." Sasuke scoffed, crossing his arms.

Ah! Male rivalry, this was gonna be treacherous. Then there was Sakura, she was so obsessed with Sasuke I wondered if she had a brain in that big head of hers or if she just spent all of her time trying to get his attention. Sakura glared at me, although I wasn't sure why, I was never mean to her face._ Of course…female rivalry_, I'm sure she heard I sparred with Sasuke and assumed I was competition. I'd have to set the record straight; I was in no mood to play "fight over boys."

"So Sasuke do you wanna train, now that we're on the same team?" Sakura blushed as the four of us walked out of the Academy.

"I'd rather not thank you." Sasuke's answer was blunt and to the point. I had to respect him for that, he wasn't as chatty as my other two comrades. I kept my head down, staring at my feet, I felt so cast out. It was like Iruka-sensei didn't have any team to put me on so he just threw me in because I couldn't be alone. I'd do much better alone, I was always better alone.

"I'll see you three tomorrow." I muttered and split from the group. No one heard me or even acknowledged that I left. I turned for the training arena; it was completely empty as the sun was going down. This was my favourite time to train, no doubt about it. I planted my feet to the ground and focused on my chakra. My hands began moving to perform my jutsu. "Sand shield!" I cried, releasing my chakra and pulling the sand all around me. I couldn't believe I was doing it, and not only did I build the barrier, I was making it stay up. I never felt I accomplished something this incredible, until the kunai knife slashed right through the barrier, skimming right across my face, only missing it by less than an inch. I couldn't believe it. I built the damn barrier but it was just a wall of sand, it didn't protect me against anything. If that kunai was any closer it would have hit me.

I released the jutsu and faced my opponent who was glaring at me though his onyx eyes.

"Sasuke?" I narrowed my eyes towards him. "What happened to not wanting to train?"

"Interesting jutsu…too bad your shield can't even block a kunai."

"Shut up Sasuke! I'm still practicing!" I snapped, grabbing his kunai from the tree it ran into and flinging it in his direction. He caught it instantly and smirked.

I drew two of my kunai out and pointed them at him. He twirled his knife around and lunged.

My arm stung as I walked home, my face was wet with my tears. Sasuke showed no mercy, I'm sure if he got the opportunity he would have killed me. His eyes were filled with such…hate. I clutched onto my bleeding arm and sobbed. I was just one constant failure after another, I was worse than Naruto. What kind of sand ninja was I if I couldn't even use the sand as a weapon?

_The Hidden Leaf Village is our home now._ My mother's words echoed in the back of my head. She was right. I was far away from the Sand Village, and I was supposed to be a Leaf ninja.

"N'kata you're hurt!" My mother looked very displeased when she saw the cut on my arm. "What happened?"

I burst out in tears and told her everything.

"You can't see it like that. You're not a fourth wheel N'kata, your squad is lucky to have you and as for this Sasuke…well my mother always told me when a boy knocks you down or pulls your hair it just means he likes you."

_He cut me with a kunai knife. I think that means he wants me dead._ I thought as my mother bandaged my cut and sent me to my room.

The next morning I sat with Sasuke and Sakura in a classroom at the Academy while Naruto positioned a chalk eraser on the door, setting a trap for our new sensei. What an idiot. Sakura was scolding Naruto and Sasuke was just sitting there quietly, glaring like he always did.

"This is what he gets for coming in late!" Naruto exclaimed.

I set my head on my desk, why was I put on this squad? I'd rather be with Hinata and her team. Shino creeped me out but it was better than Naruto.

"He's a jonin, you think he's gonna fall for something as juvenile as this?" Sasuke scoffed.

I agreed with Sasuke, our new sensei was a jonin level Shinobi. There's no way he'd be stupid enough to…

I spoke too soon.

Our new sensei opened the door and the chalk eraser fell right on his head, although it didn't seem to phase him much. His headband covered one of his eyes and a blue mask covered the rest of his face so only one grey eye greeted us. His grey hair stuck up like he got stuck by lightning. Naruto burst out laughing and Sakura fell to her knees and began apologizing profusely.

"How's your arm?" Sasuke asked quietly.

I ignored him, why would he care?

"My name is Kakashi, I'm your sensei and from here on out, you do as I say."

The four of us nodded in sync and we walked outside.

"I want you all to tell me a little something about yourselves before we get started." Kakashi-sensei began.

"Huh? What do you mean sensei?" Sakura pondered as if it was a difficult question. How did Sakura function on a daily basis?

"Tell me your name, things you like, things you don't like, the basics."

"Okay I'll go first!" Naruto piped up. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I love ramen and I'm striving to be Hokage so the village will have to respect and acknowledge me!"

"I'm Sakura Haruno, and what I like…um…who I like…" she blushed looking at Sasuke. She was such a moron, a real disgrace to girls everywhere. Sasuke didn't even huff or roll his eyes; he must have had immunity to Sakura's persistence.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I don't particularly like a lot of things. I'm an avenger and I'm set on killing a certain somebody."

How was I gonna top a motivation like that? Who was he out to kill?

Kakashi-sensei faced me, waiting for me to spill my guts.

"I'm N'kata Chiyha from the Sand Village. I…I hate snakes and I wanna control the sand."

"That's all for today." Kakashi-sensei said and started to leave. "We'll meet tomorrow at five a.m."

"What!" Naruto shouted. "You've gotta be kidding me?"

I frowned; did it look like he was kidding? I left for the training arena to work on my jutsu. Sasuke proved that even though I could build a barrier, it didn't mean it worked.

"N'kata…I…I see you're on the same squad as Naruto." Hinata's voice whimpered from behind me. I skidded dead in my tracks and faced her.

"Yeah, trust me Hinata, its not that great. You're with Kiba and Shino, aren't you?"

"Uh-huh."

"That's great for you Hinata, those two are really strong, if you're as smart as I think you are you'll let them help with your training, it'll really help you come out of your shell."

"Thanks N'kata. Are you…are you hurt? Your arm is bandaged."

"It's nothing, just got hit with a kunai."

"Oh. Are you going back to train?"

"Yeah, you wanna spar with me?"

"Um…no thanks…I…I have to get home."

After saying goodbye to Hinata, I trained for hours, but I had no idea if my sand shield was still penetrable. I focused all of my chakra and imagined the sand hardening around me, forcing my chakra to obey my thoughts. I felt so drained, and I didn't even know if it was working.

"Sasuke if you're here now would be a good time to throw a kunai at me!" I yelled.

_Clang!_

My sand shield dropped. I expected to see Sasuke but instead I found Kakashi-sensei. "You look a bit beat. You should go home, you have an early day ahead of you."

I breathed harshly. "Right…sorry sensei…I'll see you tomorrow…five a.m." I took off, happy as can be. My sand shield worked as a defense.

That next morning I was exhausted, the only one at the meeting point was Sasuke but I could hear the others slugging behind me. Sasuke glared at me when I took a stance beside him. I shot a look back. "What the hell is your problem with me?" I snapped, crossing my arms. Sasuke gave me a chuckle for a response.

Naruto and Sakura arrived looking beat; did they even try to sleep? The four of us stood around, waiting for hours. Where the hell was Kakashi? It must have been nine or ten by the time he finally showed up. Naruto was furious.

We were given our mission: get the bells from Kakashi. Naruto immediately went for it and got clobbered. I brought the sand all around me and launched it forward to blind Kakashi, however when I lunged to grab a bell, Kakashi was gone in a cloud of smoke and I was hugging a log. He used a substitution jutsu. Dammit I should be smarter than this. I barricaded myself behind my sand shield and went to hide. Sasuke and Sakura were lost within the woods, and Naruto was hanging upside down on a rope. Maybe I should help him out? I took a step and froze; my heart stopped in my chest, I didn't realize I was surrounded by an army of snakes.

"Kakashi you bastard!" I screamed, completely paralyzed by the slithering demons that were drawing closer to me. I was petrified, I couldn't move.

"Hehehe, your sensei wouldn't be so cruel to you would he?" a wicked voice cackled.

_C'mon move! Move!_ My subconscious yelled at me but I was petrified. "Kakashi this isn't funny!" I wailed as the snakes wrapped around my legs. I didn't realize I was crying, I was bawling actually, like a baby. My whole body was shaking; my ears rang with the hissing of snakes.

"Poor child." The evil voice rang in the air. "You look just like your dear mother."

My eyes went wide. Kakashi wouldn't go this far would he? The snakes made their way around my entire body and began to squeeze around me. The evil cackle was the only sound accompanying the hissing snakes. The second I struggled one of the snakes bit my ankle and the rest of them squeezed tighter. I gasped to breathe and they went even tighter. If they kept this up I'd suffocate.

"Stop it!" I cried.

"As you wish child, you might want to get your ankle looked at, my snakes are quite poisonous." The snakes loosened their grip and fled away, my entire body was numb; it was either the blood rushing back through me, or the snake venom taking its course. Naruto was no longer in my sight, how? I just saw him before the snakes; I didn't even know where I was anymore. I sunk to my knees and pulled some bandages out from my pouch to wrap up my ankle.

I forced myself to run as far away as possible. Kakashi took it too far, I was hell bent on killing him. My chakra raged through me, I pushed through the venom coursing through me and leaped up onto a cloud of sand. I found him easily enough.

"KAKASHI!" I roared, barreling down in my sand wave and crashing down in front of him. I knew it'd be a substitution, I shouldn't have used so much chakra but I had to get his attention. I didn't have much time; I would give in to the poison soon. Sure enough the Kakashi I attacked was just a log. Kakashi's hand wrapped around my ankle, my wound seared.

"I was wondering where you took off to." He said as if he didn't just poison me. I brought my other foot up, upper cutting his jaw to break free, the bells jingled on his belt. Dammit the bells! I completely forgot about those! I didn't care, I was too mad. I pulled sand around me and shot it at him before I hit the ground. My chakra was practically diminished and my ankle was searing, the venom was taking a good hit on me.

"It looks like you've used up all your chakra, you don't have a lot of time left if you want lunch."

"You think I care you piece of—agh!" I caved grabbing my ankle that was bleeding through the bandages. "I tell you I hate snakes and you send them after me! You have them poison me? Was I supposed to defend myself better? Was that the point of this? AHH!" I fell onto my stomach, I had to pull myself up, I couldn't be this weak, especially since Kakashi made it clear if we didn't get the bells we'd be stuck in the Academy for the rest of our ninja lives. I had to think like Naruto, I couldn't give up, even if I was hurt. I struggled back up to my feet, my body swayed back and forth and side-to-side. I wasn't doing to good.

"What are you talking about?" Kakashi's voice was stern.

Was he joking? I couldn't believe he had the nerve to— I held back as many tears as I could but the pain was more than I could handle. My eyes went blurry, was I going blind? I deliriously swung my arm at Kakashi, missing him completely and face planted back in the dirt.

_Poor child. You look just like your mother._

_Hehehe_

_I'll be keeping my eye on you N'kata._

"This so isn't fair." I heard Naruto whine. What the? My eyes cracked open, the sunshine blinded me.

"Hnn…Have a nice nap?" Sasuke huffed.

I sat up, what the hell happened? My eyes focused on Naruto tied to pole, kicking and flailing while Sasuke and Sakura sat on either side of him eating their lunch. The bells! I didn't get a bell! Dammit! Sasuke and Sakura must have gotten them, how Sakura managed I had no idea…maybe she wasn't as stupid as I thought.

"What…What happened?" I grunted sitting up and holding my aching head.

"Kakashi is gonna give us another chance to get the bells after we eat." Sakura explained. My stomach roared I was starving.

"What about Naruto?"

"I…uh…tried stealing lunch early."

Ugh. Typical Naruto…should've figured.

"Kakashi left your lunch with us, dig in…" Sakura held out a little blue container with rice and sushi rolls. Although I was starving, the thought of food made me sick.

"No thanks, Naruto can have it."

"But—" Sakura started but Sasuke took the container and held it up to Naruto. "Here" He said.

"Um…Sakura…you…you're gonna have to feed me." Naruto perked up after Sakura offered up her lunch too.

"Are you kidding me?" Sakura hissed.

"He's tied up Sakura, just do it!" Sasuke argued and tossed my lunch over to me. "You should eat something too, you're gonna need your strength. You're not getting off so easy this time."

I didn't argue, I knew and Kakashi-sensei knew I didn't have it easy. Last time I checked Sasuke didn't get attacked by snakes. Once Naruto took a bite of food from Sakura, the air filled with smoke. Kakashi-sensei began yelling at Sasuke and Sakura for giving Naruto food. What the hell did I miss?

"Go ahead and fail us! We gave Naruto our lunch because he's part of our team!" Sakura stood up.

Should I step in? The other three were going on about teamwork and all that and I wasn't saying anything at all.

"You all pass."

Huh? I perked up We passed? Just for standing up to him? This didn't make any sense. After Kakashi-sensei gave us a long speal about teamwork and all that he sent us away. "Hold on N'kata, I wanna talk to you."

"What is it?" I crossed my arms, I was still mad at him.

"I want you to tell me what happened out there with the snakes. I don't know how you're still alive right now, that venom was fatal."

"You mean you tried to kill me?" I shot.

"You still think I sent those snakes after you?" Kakashi smacked the back of my head.

"You mean…you didn't…" I uttered the words.

"You think I'd risk my student's life over a simple test? You must have a really poor opinion of me. I'm your sensei now and it's my job to challenge you but not attack you like that. But someone did attack you, and tried to kill you N'kata. How they managed to do it under my nose is something I can't explain. I don't want to scare you, but they'll probably try again, which is why I need you to tell me exactly what happened."

I gulped and told him everything about the snakes and the voice. "He knew about my mother, he said I looked just like her…I thought it was you trying to scare me."

"I'll bring this up to Lord Hokage, and I'm gonna make sure this doesn't ever happen again."

"Thank-you." I bowed my head and stood up.

"There's one more thing N'kata."

"What is it Kakashi-sensei?"

"You know what? It's nothing never mind, you should head home, I'm sure your mother is worried."

"Okay…sorry for blaming you Kakashi, I should have known better."

"I'm sure you won't make that mistake twice…now get going, we have a long day of training ahead of us."

I nodded and took off to catch up with the others. As I got closer to the village I caught up with Naruto. "What did Kakashi-sensei want?"

I shook my head. "Nothing, just gave me a little warning is all."

"Well don't beat yourself up over it, I mean I heard Sakura passed out too, Kakashi-sensei scared the living hell outta her."

I chuckled, Naruto was good at cheering me up, I'll give him that much.

"Wanna get some ramen? I'll buy." I wondered as my stomach grumbled. I never did get to my lunch. Naruto's face beamed with joy and he wrapped his arms around me in a huge hug. I grunted, I didn't do affection, this was a complete invasion of space, but I liked Naruto. Not the way Hinata liked Naruto of course. He might have been an annoying idiot but there was something that made me feel for him, he had the materials to be a true friend someday.

"You're the best N'kata!"

"I'm just getting a bowl, I've seen the way you eat and I can't afford to buy out the shop!" I stated, pushing him off me.

That night I continued having nightmares about snakes, and that voice and Gaara. Even with my worst fear haunting me, there was always Gaara; it led up to the worst sleep I ever had.

**A/N: Hope this is getting more interesting. I'm still a novice. Hope you enjoyed it.**


	3. Absolute Torture

I couldn't believe Squad 7 made it this far; we made it to the chunin exams. I couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe how much the four of us had grown. Sakura hated me, I really didn't know why. When we traveled to the Village Hidden in the Rain and fought with Haku and Zabuza, I learned I was completely useless. Since I spent so much of my training focusing on my sand shield, I didn't have anything else to go on. And since there was no sand in the Land of Water, I was more useless than Sakura.

"_What is your purpose in life?" Haku asked me as we fought. Naruto and Sasuke were unconscious. I had no sand, I could only rely on taijutsu and I was terrible at it. Haku had kekkei genkai, this ice prison I was trapped in. _

"_Gaara." The words came out of my mouth involuntarily. At best I could only stall him, or I'd be dead, those needles he shot were brutal._

"_Is he precious to you?"_

"_Huh?"_

"_This Gaara you speak of? Would you do anything you could to protect him and serve him?"_

"_I don't even know if he's alive anymore. I've haven't seen him since I left my home."_

"_My purpose is to serve Zabuza, I don't want to kill you but I will if I have to."_

I remembered crying myself to sleep for many nights after Haku died. Every night he appeared somewhere in my nightmares right next to Gaara. Haku could have killed me that day; he could have done it so easily too. Since then I tried to learn other jutsus so I wasn't always relying on the sand, I had to learn the hard way that it wasn't always gonna be around.

"You ready for this?" I looked at my teammates as we crossed through the jam-packed village. Shinobi from every nation were here for the chunin exams, I never saw the Leaf Village so cramped. Naruto was too busy arguing with Konohamaru, the Hokage's grandson to answer me. Sakura was too busy glaring at me and Sasuke was Sasuke. Konohamaru ran up ahead and I repeated the question.

"You bet I'm ready! Believe it! These exams are gonna be a piece of cake." Naruto grinned.

"Hey watch it kid! You got some nerve." My ears perked to that voice yelling at Konohamaru. Jeez what did this kid get himself into now? Konohamaru was just as reckless as Naruto sometimes. Naruto and I raced up ahead, finding a guy robed in black with a mummy on his back holding Konohamaru by the scruff of his shirt. His face had purple lines around his eyes, across his cheeks, down his nose over his mouth and down his chin. His black eyes glinted, he sneered once he saw me. My eyes went wide when I saw the Sunagakure symbol on his headband. He was from the sand village.

"Kankuro, that's enough."

His voice was harsh and raspy, he'd grown since the last time I saw him. His hair was still the spiky auburn mess I remembered; his bright green eyes were hollow, empty shells with no life or emotion inside of them. On the right side of his forehead was the kanji for love; he never had that when I was in the Sand Village. He wore a black bodysuit that had short sleeves and cut high on his calves. There was a white cloth draped over his shoulders and a giant gourd strapped to his back. Gaara. I stepped back, pressing myself into Sasuke who had caught up. He held my arms, and kept me steady. I couldn't believe it was Gaara.

"C'mon lemme take care of this little runt!" Kankuro spat, balling his hand into a fist and throwing it back. I pulled the sand from the ground up and made it harden into a ball in my hand. A new trick I picked up when I was training in the forest with my team, while we were in the Rain Village were sand bombs. Infused with my chakra, the bomb would go off once it made contact with my target. I pushed Sasuke away and shot my arm back, ready to strike, I stared down at Kankuro.

"Let the kid go!" I snarled, infusing my chakra with the sand bomb.

"N'kata stop it!" Sasuke demanded, grabbing my shoulder.

"I said that's enough Kankuro." Gaara said again, his eyes were fixed on me.

Kankuro dropped Konohamaru and joined back with Gaara and the girl that was with them. The three turned to leave, I was mortified, they were sand Shinobi and they were here.

"You!" Sasuke called out. I had to stop him, but I couldn't move. It was like the snakes all over again. "With the gourd on your back. What's your name?"

Gaara turned back around staring at me. He was so intimidating. I couldn't even breathe.

"I'm Gaara of the Desert." He replied coldly, his eyes never leaving me. I didn't realize I was clinging onto Sasuke's hand; my sand bomb had vanished a long time ago. I was solely relying on Sasuke to keep me from falling.

"You practice justu of the Sand Shinobi?" the girl must have taken notice to me too. Her short sandy hair was pulled into four short, spiky ponytails and her bangs fell over her forehead. Her turquoise-green eyes were less intense than Gaara's but still…

"She's from the Sand Village you idiot. You should see what she can do!" Naruto piped in. I clenched my hand around Sasuke's; he would have to stop me from losing it.

"A native from the Sand village and you wear that Leaf headband around your neck?" the girl crossed her arms.

"Look at her Temari, she's scared to death. Where's your little jutsu now? Let's put it to the test." Kankuro stepped closer to me. Sasuke pulled his arm over me, blocking me from Kankuro. My eyes were locked on Gaara, and his were locked on me. It was a terrifying staring contest.

"Let's go." He said to his comrades. Temari didn't hesitate to follow, but Kankuro had an issue with it.

"Kankuro, come on!" Temari hissed.

He listened and caught up. Gaara stopped once more and turned his head only. "You will make an interesting opponent…N'kata."

My weight collapsed into Sasuke and he had to quickly pull me up before I hit the ground. I was never so scared of someone. Gaara was not the little boy I saw once before. He was cold, colder than Sasuke. How could one person affect me so much?

"I'm gonna walk her home, I'll catch up with you two later."

"I'll come along." Sakura started to follow us.

"No Sakura. I need to talk to N'kata…alone."

"Oh." Sakura frowned as Sasuke and I walked away.

"She's never gonna let me hear the end of that." I said once we were far from the crowds.

"Hnn. That guy, Gaara, you know him don't you?"

"How can you tell?"

"I don't need Sharingan to figure it out, you recognized him, you were petrified of him, who is he?"

I exhaled. "He's the reason my mother and I left the Sand Village."

"Why?"

_Isn't he inquisitive._

"I don't know." I lied. I wasn't sure what all his Sharingan could do, but hopefully it didn't see through lies, not that he had it activated, but still…Sasuke was good at seeing through people even without his Sharingan. I had to build up on my lie, make it believable. "I was really young when I left, I can't remember."

"Hnn…"

Once we made it to my house I finally let go of Sasuke's hand. I couldn't shake the fear Gaara set in me. I wasn't even sure if it was him or snakes that scared me more. Then there was Kankuro and Temari, those two spelled danger as well.

"Thanks Sasuke." I gave a hint of a smile.

"Whatever." Was Sasuke's response before he left.

The door opened just as I reached for the handle, standing in the doorframe was a sand Shinobi. His face was terrified and he wore the same attire that the other Shinobi of the Sand Village did, a tan bodysuit with a white cloth over the shoulders. My heart stopped, what were they doing at my house? I gulped. He looked so scared.

"You don't wanna go in there." He said putting his hand on my shoulder.

I yanked myself away from him. "What the hell do you mean? This is my house! Who the hell are you?"

"I used to be a friend of your mother's kid…I stopped by to say hello but…" he cut off, I saw his eyes water. My eyes went wide. Mother. I pushed through the man and raced into the house. It smelled funny.

"Mother!"

"No don't!" the Sand Shinobi yelled and chased after me.

I turned into the kitchen and slipped. I was sitting in a pool of blood, above me was my mother hanging from the ceiling in a cocoon of snakes. Her eyes were wide open and petrified, just like mine.

But someone did attack you N'kata and they'll probably try again.

Hehe. Poor child, you look just like your dear mother.

"Mother." I whimpered.

"Kid! Get away from there!" The Sand Shinobi pulled me to my feet. I wailed and pushed him away, using all of my strength I sent him flying across the room. I faced him and his look went from scared to mortified. "Your eyes? What the hell happened to your eyes? What are you?"

Tears flowed uncontrollably from my eyes I couldn't stop. My heart ached; I was filled with fear but most of all rage. My chakra was out of control; I never felt so much of it. The floor below me cracked as my body contorted, almost bending me right in half. What's happening to me? Everything hurt, I couldn't stop screaming. The Sand Shinobi took off and ran for his life. The snakes all fell to the floor along with my mother's body and conformed together into a human body. I hit the ground; my body was doing its own thing. I pulled every grain of sand I could get and it spun around me in a vortex. I couldn't see the man that emerged from the snakes, just long sleek black hair.

"I'll kill you! You hear me? I'll rip you limb from limb!" I roared drawing all the sand into my core and blasting it out in a massive explosion. My chakra was drained and I was done for. The blast shattered the entire house and was making it collapse. Chunks of wood and debris fell all around me, crashing through the floor. I was blacking out and the house was falling on me. The last thing I felt was something wrap around me and I was gone.

"You don't get to die this easily." Gaara's voice whispered in my ear. I could feel his breath against my skin. I couldn't see, I could barely breathe. This had to be in my head. "The next time you do something reckless, you better pray I'm not around."

"Gnn…uh…" I tried responding but the only thing that came out was blood.

I no longer felt any presence near me. If Gaara was there, he was gone now and I felt the darkness take over me again.

As I came to, I met up with lavender eyes. Hinata. I was buried in a pile of bloody sand. Her arm swooped under my head and lifted it up to support my neck. I never thought Hinata could do this.

"You're alright." He said. _He?_ That couldn't be Hinata. As my sight improved I saw it was far from it. His dark brown hair was long, longer than mine; his headband had straps running down the sides of his face to keep it back.

"Excellent work Neji, you truly are a genius!" said a guy in a green jumpsuit with bright orange leg warmers and a bowl-cut hairdo.

"I know." Neji replied with a harsh snap in his voice.

"Who…who are you two?" I murmured weakly, trying to sit but my body wouldn't let me.

"Do not try to move. I am Rock Lee of the Leaf and your knight in shining armour!"

"Please Lee, shut up." Neji shot. "I'm Neji Hyuga, also from the Leaf. You're lucky we found you, if we didn't you would have bled to death."

Hyuga. I knew he looked familiar, I knew Hinata had no brothers; maybe he was a cousin or something. I struggled again to try and sit up. Neji held onto me. "Lee is right, you shouldn't try to move. You're seriously injured and need medical attention." He informed as he scooped me up and rose to his feet. All of the sand shifted off my body and fell to the ground. I gathered enough strength to pull my arms up around his neck so I wasn't entirely dead weight.

"I've got this Lee, go and tell Guy-sensei."

"Right! I shall see you later Neji." Lee said and dashed off.

Tears rolled down my face as Neji carried me toward the village. "What happened to you?" he asked once he noticed his shirt was drenched from my crying so much.

"That man…he…killed her."

"Who?"

"My mother…he killed her."

"Who was he?"

"I don't know…I just saw black hair. He came from the snakes."

"Hmm."

"You and Lee saved me? How?"

"We didn't, I merely found you while we were training. I don't know how you managed to get out of there alive with the injuries you sustained."

I coughed and spat blood on Negi's shirt.

"Take it easy, we're almost there."

**A/N: Next chapter all the crude language comes into play. Hope you're liking the story. Any suggestions feel free to tell me. **


	4. Gaara's Visit

"N'kata, you feeling okay?" Sakura's voice chimed once I woke up in a hospital bed.

"Sakura?" I grunted, sitting up. My whole body was sore. I couldn't remember anything. "What are you doing here? I thought you hated me."

Sakura's big green eyes narrowed. "That doesn't matter, I can't be jealous of you anymore, you're my teammate that's all that counts and I'm here for you. I'm so sorry about your mother N'kata."

She was only showing pity because of what happened. I didn't need her pity and I didn't want it. "Get out Sakura."

"Wha—"

"GET OUT YOU STUPID BITCH!" I screamed, grabbing the glass of water on the bedside table and pitching it at her. The glass hit her giant forehead and shattered on the floor. I was crying again. Dammit, why couldn't I just stop? Sakura was standing there frozen like she didn't hear me the first two times I told her to leave. The only thing playing through my head was my mother's body coiled in snakes.

"You heard her, she said get out." Gaara said opening the door to my room.

Sakura immediately fled, the sound of Gaara's voice was enough to send anyone running.

I wiped the tears from my face. "It was you wasn't it?" I sobbed, holding myself back from bawling again. "You pulled me out. Why?"

Gaara didn't answer me immediately. He only stared at me.

"WHAT?" I snapped, lunging up from my bed and falling to the floor. My eyes were fixed on his feet; I was too damn weak to lift myself up. I saw sand falling to the floor and sweeping towards me. Shit. The sand wrapped around my torso and weaved around my arms, my legs and around my neck. It pulled me up so my feet didn't touch the ground and reeled me to Gaara.

"You always stare at me, even when we were kids."

My eyes popped, he saw me? He knew who I was?

"You would always stare at me, just like you are right now. You have no fear of me even though I can crush you."

"Gaara!" Temari swung the door open and Gaara dropped me on my bed. "There you are Gaara! What are you doing here? I told you not to go off on your own."

"Fuck off Temari." Gaara strode passed her and left the room.

Temari glared at Gaara behind his back and then shot her eyes to me. "I don't know who you are or what you did to Gaara but you better pray you don't cross him at the chunin exams, because if you do, nothing will save you. Understand?"

I nodded and Temari closed the door behind her. The chunin exams. Would I even go? Did I even have a choice? If I decided not to partake, would that ruin it for the rest of my team? But if I did go, and I did face Gaara…I forced my eyes shut. I shouldn't have to worry about this, but I did.

My door slid open again. Dammit. Who was it now? I had enough visitors as it was. It was Kakashi and the Third Hokage, both looked very worried.

"L-Lord Hokage!" I exclaimed. What was the Hokage doing here?

"I'm sorry about your mother child, I can only imagine the pain you're feeling right now."

I bowed my head.

"Since you have no other relatives, I'm going to place you in the care of your sensei Kakashi. It's clear that you are in considerable danger; I don't want to take any more chances with this. Whoever attacked you and killed your mother is a serious threat."

"The nurse told me you had something on your arm. Mind if I take a look?" Kakashi wondered holding my bandaged arm. I didn't even notice it. My other arm was also bandaged but it was the old one from when Sasuke hit me with the kunai. I nodded and Kakashi unraveled the bandages, revealing a black tattoo around my arm. It weaved from my elbow to my wrist, ending with two strokes meeting up to a circle in the middle. What on earth was this? The Third Hokage looked stressed.

"What is it?"

"That is a summoning tattoo, I've only seen one person with a tattoo like that. There's no doubt, he's the one that gave it to you."

"Who is he? What does this thing summon?"

"Snakes."

I gulped. Snakes? I had a tattoo that summoned snakes? Why not lock me in a pit with the damned animals? What was it with me attracting snakes like wildfire?

"Don't worry, you don't know the jutsu and you'd have to sign a scroll in your blood to make it work. Still, this really bothers me."

"Lord Hokage?" I asked. He looked up to acknowledge me. "When…when I found my mother I was with a Sand Shinobi, he found her, and he said there was something wrong with my eyes."

"I don't see anything wrong with your eyes child, they look like normal brown eyes, I don't know what this Shinobi was talking about."

"There's something else N'kata, it's about the chunin exams…" Kakashi-sensei cut in.

"I wanna go in them, I can't let the others down." I spoke up.

"N'kata, the squad can go without you, with everything you've been through…"

"No! Kakashi-sensei I'm going to participate! I don't care what I've been through I'm going!"

"No sense arguing with her Kakashi, she's got a strong willpower, like the rest of her team." Said the Hokage.

I was finally released from the hospital and as much as Kakashi objected I got ready to partake in the chunin exams. I pulled my hair into a braid, got dressed and headed out of my new bedroom down the different flight of stairs and into the empty kitchen of Kakashi's house.

Living with Kakashi-sensei wasn't exactly my idea of living. I didn't get why I couldn't live alone. Naruto did and so did Sasuke, so why did I need to have a guardian and why Kakashi-sensei? As I brewed myself some tea, my eyes made contact with one of Kakashi-sensei's books on the counter. Hmm. I poured my tea into a cup and grabbed the book.

"Make out Paradise?" I puzzled at the title. This whole time Kakashi-sensei was training us he was reading romance? I opened the book and started reading. Holy shit! What the hell was this? It was…awesome. I gulped down my tea, flipping through the pages; I couldn't put the damn book down. It was such a distraction from everything I ever worried about, it made me feel…better.

At the sound of Kakashi yawning, I slammed the book down and snapped up to my feet. "Kakashi-sensei! Good morning!" I flushed, not knowing if I could ever take my sensei seriously ever again.

He yawned again. "You're up early. I see you've found your way around the kitchen. Did you eat anything yet?"

"Just had tea." I answered shaking my head.

"Alright. I can fix something up I—" he cut off, his eye wandering to his book on the table. I could see his mouth pull into a grin under his mask. I flushed again. "I see you've made it half way through Make out Paradise. How long have you been awake?"

"Umm…"

"You know you're a little young to be reading that." Kakashi stated but I had already dove back into the book. "Right. I'll let you know when breakfast is done."

After we ate, Kakashi and I met up with the rest of Squad 7 for the written exam. I couldn't look at Sakura, not after the way I snapped at her. I actually felt bad for doing it, but there was nothing I could do to fix it now. It's not like she ever liked me to begin with. Kakashi wished us luck and took his leave. I saw so many people; I didn't even know there were so many genin around. I saw Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga with a girl, who I could only assume was the third ninja on their squad. Across the room were Gaara, Temari and Kankuro. I gulped when Gaara noticed me, his face was stone cold and he was staring me down. Oh hell. As I continued looking around I found Hinata and split from my comrades to meet her.

"Hinata! You're taking the exams too?" I asked, completely shocked. These exams were gonna be difficult, I knew she wasn't ready.

Hinata nodded. "I'm sorry to hear about your mother…I…I'm surprised you're here."

My eye twitched. I had to control my emotions, my heart hurt, but I couldn't break. "It's fine Hinata. Jeez I feel like everyone's staring at us. What gives?"

"I'm not sure. I think it's because we're a lot younger than all these other Shinobi." Kiba piped up stepping in next to Hinata. "How's it goin' N'kata. You up for this?" he asked giving me a toothy grin. I remembered how much I used to blush when Kiba would talk to me and smile like that, but now there was nothing. I nodded.

My head was killing me. This test was impossible, all of these questions made no sense. How the hell was I gonna answer these without cheating? My pencil snapped inside my hand. Fuck this is so frustrating! I cursed. I wanted to look around, but all the ninja observing the testing could misconstrue it as cheating and kick me out. I was furious, this test had to be a hoax. I clutched onto my broken pencil. Up ahead of me I could see Naruto suffering the same frustrations I was. What would happen if he failed? The whole team would suffer. What would happen if I failed? I understood Naruto not being able to pass, but I had no excuse. _But this damn test is impossible! There's no way I can do it fairly! Unless…unless that's the point. Are we supposed to cheat?_ That had to be it. If cheating was absolutely off limits then we wouldn't get strikes for each time we got caught. At least I figured it out, but would the rest of my team get it? Sasuke would have no problem, he was smarter than me, it was Naruto who worried me most of all.

When we got to the last question I snapped. I didn't know any jutsus to cheat, nor did I have any companion to tell me the answers like Kiba had with Akamaru. I managed to answer a few questions, but I wasn't confident in them. I could only hope that Sasuke and Sakura had enough points for the four of us, and that Naruto managed to answer at least one question.

Upon learning that the failure of this question meant we'd never surpass genin made me stab myself with my broken pencil. Is he fucking serious? If we backed down we could take the test next year, but that wasn't an option, not for me and not for my team. I felt my blood trickle down my hand and streak across my newly tattooed arm. The frustration was killing me.

"To all of you who decided to stay…you all pass." The proctor Ibiki Morino said.

I slammed my bloody hand on the desk. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" I yelled, rising from my seat. Another rookie, Shikamaru Nara, grabbed my hand and pulled me back into my seat. His black hair was slicked back into a ponytail; his dark eyes were half open. Shikamaru was always lazy and usually kept to himself. Why was he stopping me?

"Settle down, it might be a drag but it's not worth making a scene over."

I felt something move under my bloody hand still pressed in my desk. I cautiously moved it.

"SNAKE!" Ino wailed from the desk behind me.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "This is such a drag."

I stared down at the tiny, little purple serpent that quizzically looked at me with its little head tilted to the side. It flicked its tongue at me, like it was waiting for me to do something. It was so tiny, it must have been a baby, it wasn't even that scary, it was kinda cute. Did I summon that? No, I couldn't have. The Hokage said I had to know the jutsu.

"Alright that's enough!" Ibiki silenced us and explained how we passed just by staying in the classroom. I was still pissed; this was ridiculous! I could have left the damn test paper blank and would have passed. We were finally dismissed when we met Anko Mitarashi, who was the examiner for the next part of the chunin exams that started tomorrow.

The baby snake coiled around my finger as I stood up and stormed out of the testing centre with the rest of the genin. Hmm…affectionate little thing aren't ya? I thought petting it with my pinky. If it were any bigger I'd probably freak out like Ino did.

"Hey N'kata wait up!" Naruto called. I turned my head and waited for the blonde bombshell to catch up. He immediately found the snake wrapped around my finger. "What's the deal with this little guy? Kinda showed up outta nowhere."

I kept my mouth shut and nodded. I'd have to have a talk with Kakashi-sensei about this. There was something him and the Hokage weren't telling me.

"So I heard you're living with Kakashi-sensei now? What's up with that? Your dad in the Sand Village or something?"

"I don't have one."

"Huh?"

"I'm like you now Naruto. I don't have any parents. I don't know why the Hokage sent me to live with Kakashi-sensei, I could easily live on my own like you do."

Naruto and I walked down the streets of Konoha; it was always pretty at this time of day. We were silent for the longest time. The snake on my finger had fallen asleep by the looks of it. Naruto rubbed the back of his head. His face blushed a bit.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well…if you don't have to get back to Kakashi-sensei too soon…did you wanna stop for a bite? I'll pay this time." He sounded so nervous.

My face went blank. Was he asking me out? I shrugged. "Sure, I can't stay too late though. I've been reading this book and I really wanna see how it ends." I smirked thinking about Make out Paradise. Naruto smiled and we walked to the Ramen Ichiraku to eat.

"Can I ask you something?" I pondered as I ate my ramen. Naruto perked his head up and nodded. "What were your parents like?"

Naruto's face dropped. "I have no idea. I never met them. I never knew them. What happened to your dad? I mean I always thought…I don't know actually, I just thought he was alive."

"I know just as much about my father as you do Naruto. All I know is that he's dead, I never met my father either, I guess we have that much in common."

"I guess so." Naruto frowned and slurped down more noodles. This was such a depressing conversation, even the little snake around my finger looked like he wanted to kill himself. "I didn't know you had a tattoo, aren't you too young to have one?" Naruto started up, obviously changing the subject. It was a real buzz kill there was no doubt about that, nothing cheered someone up better than talking about dead parents.

"It's a summoning tattoo, the man that killed my mother gave it to me." I explained, my eyes began to water; I quickly shut them to stop myself from crying. I cried too much, it was so pathetic.

"Say what? Who does that sick bastard think he is?" Naruto was getting angry now. Apparently there wouldn't be a happy conversation tonight; neither of us were asking the right questions. Some date this was turning out to be. I nodded in agreement.

"The Hokage said the tattoo summons snakes, and that he knew only one man with the same thing, but he never told me who it was. He said that I had to learn the jutsu and sign something in my blood. But when I got mad at the exam today and slammed my hand on the desk…this little guy showed up." I explained, holding up my finger to show the sleeping snake coiled around it. "It can't be a coincidence."

"Well at least you just summoned a baby, I mean this little guy can't hurt anything." Naruto extended his finger to pet the snake. The little guy perked his head up and clamped his teeth around Naruto. I giggled, the snake was a lot like me it hated being touched. Naruto yelped and snatched his hand away.

"Hnn. He's cute but a feisty little bastard huh?"

My giggle turned into full-fledged laughter. I wasn't sure why I was laughing so much, it wasn't even that funny. Naruto scoffed at me and went back to his ramen.

The walk home was silent, Naruto was still mad at my snake. When I arrived at Kakashi-sensei's I said goodbye to Naruto and walked through the door. Kakashi was waiting for me inside and he was less than impressed.

"I heard what happened at the exams. You've got quite the foul mouth on you huh?"

"You're mad at me for that?" I slunk my shoulders.

"You need to treat your elder ninja with respect, especially at the chunin exams."

"Sorry sensei. I need to ask you about this tattoo." I quickly recovered and told him everything that happened. "I'm sure I summoned it, there was nothing there before and it was under my hand, snakes don't spontaneously appear like that!"

"You're right N'kata. They don't." Kakashi-sensei looked angry, angrier than when he fought Zabuza.

I nodded, but I wasn't finished asking questions. "Who else has a tattoo like this? Don't lie to me sensei, I deserve to know who killed my mother. I deserve to know who did this to me!"

"Humph! There's no point in keeping it from you. His name is Orochimaru, and I'm certain he's coming after you."

**A/N: Okay now it's getting good. I'm almost finished chapter 5 but after that you guys might have to wait a little longer for updates.**


	5. The Forest of Death

I hoped and prayed my comrades were paying attention to Anko's instructions because I sure as hell wasn't. She was talking too much and I just wanted to get in that forest and beat the shit outta some ninja. I caught the just of what we were supposed to do, get a heaven or earth scroll depending on which one we needed and bring both scrolls to the tower in the very middle of the forest. We only had five days to do it and we had to live off the woods for food and shelter. In this part of the exam, people died. Hnn. Bring it on! I thought, balling my hand into a fist.

"N'kata you still have that snake with you?" Naruto huffed. I assumed he was still upset about getting bit.

I shook my head. "I set it loose after I showed Kakashi-sensei."

"Will you two shut up?" Sasuke glowered. "C'mon lets get our scroll."

Naruto and I nodded in sync and followed Sasuke and Sakura. We got our scroll and headed into the Forest of Death. I don't know why they couldn't come up with a more original name.

Almost immediately upon entering the woods we had to deal with ninja of the Rain. They all had creepy masks on their face and sounded like they were speaking through a crackly microphone every time they talked. These guys were good; there was no doubt about that. Sakura just stood there the whole time. I was about ready to punch her in the face. Naruto was god knows where, and possibly dead, so it was just me and Sasuke. These freaks were getting on my nerves; everything we threw at them they instantly had a counter attack. What the fuck were we gonna do?

"Sasuke behind you!" I shot. Sasuke quickly reacted with the help of his Sharingan and punched our opponent in the gut. I gathered the dirt around me with my chakra and hardened it into a bomb. I raced for the other rain ninja and threw it at him.

He picked it up and laughed. "What is this kid? Run out of ideas or something?"

I smirked and balled my hand into a fist. The sand bomb went off and sent the enemy flying. Sasuke smiled at me. "Good one. Now we just have to find Naruto. C'mon Sakura." He called out as we looked around for Naruto.

He was tied up in a bush and squirming around trying to break free. I huffed. "Christ Naruto, can't you hold your own once and a while?"

"Hey shut up! Get me out of this." Naruto snapped. I grabbed a kunai from my pouch and sliced him free. The four of us continued on and I made the biggest mistake of my life.

"We should split up. We'll cover more ground, we have an advantage since there's four of us." I suggested.

"Are you crazy?" Sakura shot. "We're supposed to work as a team!"

I sneered at her. "We'd still be working as a team, if I go with Naruto and you and Sasuke go together we'll cover twice as much ground and attract less attention."

"She's right." Sasuke agreed. "We have the password, so we'll know if there's an imposter."

Naruto nodded. "Alright let's do this!"

"We'll meet back here in an hour." Sasuke declared and with that Naruto and I headed off.

This forest was quiet…too quiet. I didn't like it, there was someone or something following us, there had to be. If I could have gone with Sasuke I would have preferred it. Naruto was proving himself to be a real nuisance, but so was Sakura. If we put the two together they'd be dead, plus by teaming Sasuke and Sakura, I could hope that would get me some points in Sakura's favour. Although I really didn't care for her, she was my teammate; I'd have to civil with her. Naruto was blushing at me. I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrow. "What is it Naruto?"

"Nothing…I was just wondering…why did you want to team up with me?"

I smirked and rolled my eyes. "I can't stand Sakura and if I left you and her together to fend for yourselves there'd be no hope for either of you."

"Jeez you're a real ball buster aren't you?" Naruto sighed and slunk his head to the ground.

"Are we really talking about this?"

Naruto huffed in response and rested against a tree trunk. My arm throbbed. I grunted and clasped my hand over my tattoo. Naruto poked his head up. "N'kata what's wrong? You okay?"

I couldn't answer; it hurt too much, what the fuck was this? I shot up to Naruto, the trunk behind him started to move.

"Naruto watch out!" I screamed but to no avail. Naruto was trapped inside a giant snake. I fell back, my body was almost paralyzed, the only thing it did was shake uncontrollably.

"N'kata! There's another one! Stop sitting there and move!" Naruto gasped as the snake constricted around him. My heart stopped, why can't I move? I was such a coward. I couldn't let my fear get in the way. But it did. I felt the second snake press its giant nose against my back. My arm was stinging, it was so painful, I couldn't move it even if I had the guts to use a jutsu. My whole body jilted onto the snake's head and it flung me off, launching me through the forest.

My screaming probably alerted everyone in the woods where I was. I could only see a mix of blue and green as my body whiplashed midair and spiraled down to the dirt. The worst part was, there were other ninja below me, they'd probably kill me once I landed. Shit. My body collided with a giant gourd on the ninja's back and sent him down. Fuck. Gaara. I quickly rolled off of him and pulled him up, apologizing profusely. My arm began stinging again.

"Who the hell do you think you are you little bitch?" Temari came at me and proceeded to punch her knee into my jaw.

Gaara shot his arm out, creating a barrier of sand that pushed Temari back. "I'll handle this."

The ground beneath us rumbled, my arm seared. This wasn't Gaara, but he thought it was, so did Temari and Kankuro. I was the only one who knew it was a snake, the pulsing in my arm told me so.

"Gaara. Calm down." Temari begged.

Gaara's eyes were filled with rage and set on me. He wanted to kill me. I never saw him so furious. "I'm not doing this Temari." He spat.

I could feel the vibrations in the ground. It was right under us. I had to think fast and strike before fear overtook me. I clawed my hand into the sand and manipulated it to form a giant spike that protruded out of my wrist. Gaara's sand began escaping from his gourd and spiraling around him. He launched it forward and made it wrap around my waist and pulled me towards him. The ground kept shaking; the snake was about to come out, right under Gaara.

I wrapped my one arm around him and closed the gap between us. The snake exploded from the ground. I shot my spike up as the snake bore down on us. Gaara's sand instinctively shielded him, covering us in a hardened sphere. My arm was stuck out and inside the snake's mouth, the spike speared through the top of its head. If it clamped down it'd take my hand off.

"Are you okay?" I breathed, still forcing my arm further inside the snake's head. I could only rely on its movements and breath to determine if it was still alive since I couldn't see. My other arm was still wrapped tightly around Gaara; I was reluctant about letting him go.

"I'm fine. Why did you do that?"

I grunted as the snake's weight collapsed on me. It was dead. I withdrew my hand and let the spike turn back into dirt. "I don't know…I just care too much."

Gaara's barrier dropped and the sunshine struck my eyes. All of his sand retreated back into the gourd and sealed shut with a cork. Temari and Kankuro were staring at me; it was likely because I still had my arm wrapped around their teammate. I quickly pulled myself back and brought my attention to the dead snake on the ground. Killing it took up a lot of my chakra, I wouldn't be able to do something like that again for a while.

"Temari, Kankuro, let's go." Gaara said brushing past me and continuing on his way.

Temari held back and pulled me up to my feet. "What is with you? I've never seen Gaara…"

"What?" I pushed.

"Whenever he's hell bent on killing someone, he does it. I've never seen him hold back like that. Consider yourself lucky." She bit and raced off with her team.

I took in a breath. "NARUTO!" I cried, dashing off, remembering he was still out there.

"Hehehe…you really do surprise me child."

I skidded to a stop and whirled around, colliding with a black-haired man. His skin was pale and sickly. His amber eyes had purple markings around them and snake-like slits for pupils. He was wearing plain grey-ish garbs and black pants with a purple rope tied around his waist.

"You." I gasped. I knew it was him; the man that killed my mother. "You're Orochimaru!" I hissed, balling my hand into a fist and driving it at him.

He snickered; his canine teeth were pointed like Kiba's but not so dog-like. He caught my fist easily and snapped my arm around behind my back. He licked his lips with his long snake-like tongue and chuckled at my pathetic attempt of an attack. "You shouldn't bother fighting me. It's completely pointless." His voice sent a shiver down my spine. He tightened his grip around my wrist with enough force to make it snap.

"AHHH! FUCK!" I wailed, my arm exploded. He punched my arm at the elbow, sending another wave of agony through me as the bone shattered. My knees buckled, this fucking bastard!

"You've got quite the foul mouth on you! Didn't anyone ever tell you its rude to talk like that to your elders?" he shot and snapped my arm at the shoulder.

I was positive my scream made the entire forest shake. Orochimaru released me and threw me to the dirt. He started chuckling. "C'mon N'kata, even Sasuke put up a better fight."

My eyes went wide. He went up against Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura? I turned my unharmed, tattooed arm to me, staring at the summoning symbol. "What did you do to them?" I roared.

"Well, they managed to escape death, for a moment." He smirked and licked his lips with that wicked tongue of his.

I pulled my chakra into my tattoo and slammed my hand down. Please let this work.

"Shadow snake jutsu!" he hissed, releasing dozens of snakes from his sleeves. This was all too familiar. Before they wrapped around me, I pulled up my sand shield and let them smash into it. But the snakes had swords in their mouths. You've gotta be fucking kidding me! I launched myself back to avoid them, my arm seared as I landed.

Why the fuck isn't this summoning thing working? I hissed, staring at my tattoo. I lowered my shield and he was gone. Where the fuck did he go? I puzzled, there was no way he'd just leave. I weakly rose up to my feet. My broken arm dangled out of its socket and hung limp. There was no way I'd be able to fight anyone off; I used up all of my chakra as well. I bolted off, unsure where Sasuke and Sakura were, and Naruto. What happened to him and that snake?

It was nightfall by the time I found them, all of them, but only Sakura was conscious. As I came into view she pulled a kunai out and held it out in front of her.

"Sakura! It's me!" I winced.

"N'kata? How do I know it's you? What's our password?"

Fuck! "I…I don't know I don't remember! Sakura my arm is broken in three places I need help!" I cried taking a step closer.

Sakura rose up and took a stance. "Don't come any closer! I don't know who you are but you're not coming near here! The real N'kata would have remembered the password!"

I had no chakra left; I couldn't even lift a grain of sand to prove I was whom I said. Sakura was bawling, whatever happened scared the shit outta her. I couldn't blame her for not trusting me; this forest was filled with imposters. I collapsed to my knees. My body couldn't handle anymore. I didn't like the idea of sleeping out in the open but I had no choice, I wasn't going to risk getting stabbed, and in the state I was in, even Sakura could take me.

"Are Sasuke and Naruto okay? What happened to you guys?" I grunted as I crashed my body down in the bushes. Sakura didn't answer me. "Fine I'll go first. Naruto and I ran into some snakes and got separated. Then I ran into those ninja from the Sand Village and after that this freak called Orochimaru broke my fucking arm...in three fucking places!"

"You…you met Orochimaru too?" Sakura sobbed. She was beginning to believe I was telling the truth. That was a relief.

"He said he killed you guys, you have no idea how relieved I was to see you all alive."

"When Naruto finally found us, we were so caught up in our fight with Orochimaru, he never told us what happened to you. If you really are N'kata, I'm glad you're okay."

I chuckled slightly. "Don't push it kay Sakura. I'll be lucky if my arm will ever work again. Try not to fall asleep, I'm gonna pass out soon, not that I want to but my body's not giving me an option." I force the words out before I succumb to sleep.

When I finally wake up, the sun was up and Sakura was screaming. I sat up and my body cringed. Fuck it hurts to even move! My arm was still a lifeless limp of pain but I had to focus on saving Sakura. She was being held by her hair by some girl. Unconscious and on the ground was that guy Rock Lee who found me when my mother died. Sakura wouldn't be able to save herself and from what I could see, Sasuke and Naruto were still passed out. She was being attacked by Sound Ninja, they all looked like a bunch of creeps to me, and they had some pretty intense power. I lunged out from the bushes, the only advantage I had was that they didn't know I was there, after that, I was fucked.

With the only arm I had, I pulled sand up with my chakra formed it into a spike. I went for the guy with bandages all around his head. I saw his mouth twitch underneath and he revealed a giant silver amplifier thing on his arm. My ears began ringing. My eardrums felt like they were about to burst. Getting my arm broken was worse, but this was still incredibly painful enough to make me scream.

"Wanna finish her off Zaku?" the guy with the bandaged face asked, at least I thought that's what I heard, mostly everything sounding within my ears was a high-pitched screech that was making my ears bleed.

The guy Zaku grinned and pulled out a kunai. Shit. Shit. What the hell was I gonna do. My arm was completely gimp and the other one was covering my ear. Zaku got closer, twirling his kunai around in his hand. Now I was getting mad. He raised the kunai over his head, swung it down to strike and chuckled. I shot my hand up and let the blade stab me, I could feel my eyes twitch. Suddenly Zaku got scared. He pulled the kunai out from my hand and sunk to his knees, he was cowering. What the hell?

"I-I-I di-didn't th-think it was...please f-f-forgive me!"

I never felt so much chakra flowing through me; it was all coming from my eyes and the tattoo on my arm. It was the same kind of power I felt when I saw my mother's body. Go on N'kata, unleash the powers I gave you, use the summoning! Orochimaru's voice coaxed inside my head.

"Zaku you fool! What do you think you're doing?" The girl holding Sakura shouted. I whipped my head around and glared at her. The girl gasped. "W-wait a sec. What are you doing? Y-You're fighting against us? Why?"

Now this was pissing me off. "You're next you bitch!" I hissed and punched my hand into the ground. This had better work this time. The girl widened her eyes and Sakura used the advantage to cut her hair to set herself free. The blood from my hand soaked into the dirt and within an instant a purple snake was coiled around my body. It looked at me quizzically and flicked its tongue. I smirked; the little guy grew up fast.

_What do you need from me? I can see you're too injured to continue this fight. I'll take care of it for you._ The snake's feminine voice echoed inside my head.

"Kill them!"

_With pleasure master._

With that she bounced off me and went for the guy with the bandaged face. Sakura was taking care of Zaku and all I could do in my weakened state was sit back and watch. The snake held off her opponent for a while but eventually the bandaged guy threw her off and used that device on his arm. I could hear her screaming inside my head.

"Get out of here! There's nothing more you can do!" I ordered.

_Please forgive me_. She said and vanished in a puff of smoke. The bandaged face guy stared at me with his one cold eye. "Looks like you're out of chakra, and ideas."

"Dosu no!" Zaku yelled while punching Sakura, who had her teeth clamped in his arm. "Kill Sasuke! That's our mission, and Orochimaru said keep that one alive."

Dosu's mouth formed a grin under the bandages. "It's your lucky day little girl, but I can't have you doing any more jutsus so Orochimaru will have to forgive me." He lunged, grabbed my useful arm and yanked it out of its socket with a loud pop!

"AHHHHH! AGH! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" I wailed and flopped down like a rag doll. With both of my arms out of commission I was done for.

Even after Shikamaru, Ino and Choji came to our defense, we still got pummeled. The girl was knocked out but Dosu and Zaku were still kicking.

"This is such a drag." Shikamaru panted. His entire squad was out of chakra. These Sound Ninja were too good. Sakura was beaten and bloody, I was so proud of her though. She finally came out and kicked some ass.

"You did good Sakura." I complimented. "Sorry I couldn't be any more help, my legs are almost as worthless as my arms." I tried to chuckle.

Dosu stomped over and hoisted me up by my leg and threw me over his shoulder. "What'd you think Zaku? Should be bring her to Lord Orochimaru? I think he'd be very interested to see those eyes of hers."

"Yeah, yeah but aren't you forgetting about Sasuke? Don't forget that's our mission."

"Hehe. Right."

"No! Sasuke!" Sakura screamed as Zaku headed in her direction.

"Sakura." My bleeding ears perked up to Sasuke's voice. "Sakura who did this to you?" he demanded, his voice was sharp, harsh and furious.

Zaku smugged and admitted he was the one that did it. I didn't see much but I heard his arms crack as Sasuke pulled them from the sockets and snapped them at the elbows.

"Sasuke." I muttered. Dosu huffed and shrugged his shoulders to make me bounce. My arms seared as the flopped around. "AHH!"

"You'd better put her down!"

Dosu flipped me off his shoulder and let me crash to the ground arms first. Fucking hell! When I looked up at a raged Sasuke there was something wrong with him. His entire body was covered in black marks that would occasionally turn orange as they spread across him. Something stirred inside me, some feeling that churned my organs around. His red Sharingan eyes stared down at my broken, mangled body. He began charging for Dosu, he was pissed.

"Sasuke! No!" Sakura bolted up and wrapped her arms over his shoulders. "Please Sasuke! Don't do this." She sobbed.

Dosu picked up his unconscious teammates and started walking away. "You win this one, but next time we meet, one of us will die."

I was seeing stars. Sasuke carried me over and placed me next to Naruto, who just recovered. Ino was fixing Sakura's hair and Shikamaru and Choji were snacking on chips as they recuperated from their fight.

"You okay?" Sasuke asked as he sat me up and popped my arm back in its socket.

"AGH! Dammit to fuck!" I screamed.

"Hnn. You and your foul mouth. You're not gonna be able to go on in this state. I can't fix your other arm, and the one I did fix is gonna be outta commission for a while."

"Got any good news?"

"You're alive aren't you?"

"Thanks Sasuke."

"For what?"

"I dunno for saving my ass and fixing one of my arms. Jeez can't you take a thank you once and a while?" I scoffed and turned to Naruto. "You guys are gonna have to leave me here." I stated.

"What? No way! That's outta the question!" Naruto shouted, grabbing my shoulders. He pulled them away once I cried out. "Sorry."

"I'm only gonna slow you down. I can barely walk and I can't use my arms, I'm dead weight and we're running out of time to get the scroll. You guys can still pass the exam without me."

"So we're just supposed to leave you out here to die? You think we'd e that selfish to leave a comrade behind?" Naruto was mad. "I don't care if you break your legs too, we'll have to carry you with us."

I frowned. He wasn't getting it, they needed speed and a fallen comrade didn't give them that. "Naruto…I…you need to stop being such a fucking idiot okay? I know you're trying to be bold and do the right thing but I'll be fine, I'll make to the tower on my own."

"Any other ninja will attack you with no mercy if we leave you behind N'kata." Sasuke explained. "Those Sound Ninja were ready to take you away. I'm not about to let that happen. However, what you're saying is true. You are gonna be dead weight, and if you don't get your arm fixed soon, it'll set like that."

"I can take her." His raspy voice made my insides leap. What was he doing back here? I looked up at him; his green eyes had a glint of life in them.

"Gaara." I gasped.

**A/N: So this is all I have so far. I will do my best to get the next chapter in soon. Any suggestions? Hope you enjoyed it.**


	6. Sand Coffin

Everyone in the group went silent; all of them were staring at him.

"Why should we trust you?" Naruto shrilled.

"You shouldn't, however, I really don't care if you trust me."

"It's fine." I whimpered and rose up to my feet. "If he wanted to kill me he would have done it by now." I said staring at him.

"What about the scrolls? How do we know he isn't just using you to get one?" Shikamaru joined in.

"You insignificant idiot. My team and I have already made it to the tower."

"Then what are you doing back here?" Sasuke stood up behind me and took my hand, almost claiming me as his property.

"Blood." Gaara answered. Everyone's eyes went blank. "And your friend has lost quite a bit of it. I don't usually make offers like this, so you'd do well to take it."

I freed myself from Sasuke and limped over to the cold-blooded Sand Ninja.

"N'kata wait!" Naruto cried out. "You're staying with us! I'll carry you on my back if I have to! You're not going with him! He's fucking crazy! He's got this look in his eye, if he gets you alone who knows what he'll do!"

_What he'll do?_ I looked at Gaara, his lip was twitching, he was holding back, but he wouldn't take it for long before he had all of my friends wrapped in his sand. I gulped when his eyes met mine, he was waiting to hear what I was gonna say. What was I gonna say? For all I knew Naruto was right, what would happen if he got me alone? _Makeout Paradise _came into my mind and I quickly shut it out. My cheeks flushed, did I actually just think about _that?_ With Gaara? Two fifteen year olds alone in the chunin exams were bound together by fate…pfpth! Ha! I made myself chuckle out loud.

"I told you…it's fine Naruto. If he does kill me…well then at least you can say I told you so."

I started walking away from my team, hoping Gaara would follow and not kill anybody. I was lucky that he did. I heard Naruto start to run to catch up but somebody stopped him.

"Lemme go Sasuke! You're not actually gonna let her go off with this guy! She's our teammate."

"N'kata can take care of herself. She knows what's best for the squad. We have a heaven scroll to find Naruto, so stop whining about N'kata and let's go!" Sasuke ordered firmly.

When Gaara and I were out of everyone's sight, I found myself staring at his stern face. He was really cute; maybe I would go _Makeout Paradise_ on him, well just the make out part anyway.

"You're staring at me again."

_Shit_. I darted my head to my feet. "Why did you come back out? Assuming what you said was true and you have both scrolls, why did you leave the tower and where are your comrades?"

"Probably out looking for me. I'm sure they've realized I've left on my own again."

"They really don't like you going off by yourself, they must really care about you."

"My siblings are more afraid of me than you are, they like to keep a close watch on me."

Siblings? Temari and Kankuro were related to Gaara? How did I not know that?

"Why?"

"Because they're afraid I'm going to kill them. I don't know why you don't share their fear. It's very confusing to me."

"If you really wanted to kill me like you keep saying you do, then why don't you?"

"Quit tempting me." Gaara snapped.

"Quit threatening me! Either go through with it or cut it out." I shot back, shoving him with my body and tumbling over. He caught me and threw me over his shoulder.

"I'm starting to regret this. Shukaku isn't hungry for your blood; I don't have to kill you to prove my existence."

"Who the fuck is Shukaku and what? You kill people to prove your existence? The fuck is your problem?" I growled as I hung across Gaara's back. He didn't answer me. He dashed off, jumping from tree to tree. I felt like I was gonna be sick. My body kept sliding lower and lower as he kept running. Did he even notice my head would be bashing the ground if he didn't stop?

"You know I'm sure you love it when a girl's head is between your legs but I really don't wanna be there right now." I pointed out in hopes to get him to readjust me. Gaara stopped dead and made my neck whiplash. I tightened my legs and torso against his shoulder to keep myself from falling. Gaara was shaking, he was mad, really mad, okay he was pissed the fuck off.

"Have you ever seen me perform a sand coffin jutsu?"

Sand coffin? I gulped that didn't sound good. "No, I've only seen you use your sand as a barrier, you were kinda my inspiration to learn sand jutsus."

Gaara set me down against the tree we were sitting in and leaped down into a group of oncoming ninja. They started attacking him but there was no point, his sand protected him instantly. Then he moved his hands and said, "sand coffin," that's when things got mortifying. All of the ninja were encased in sand and buried alive before Gaara closed his hand in a fist and made them explode in a shower of sand and blood. He glared up at me and leaped back up to the tree. He was inches away from my face and splotched in blood, so much blood. He traced his hand down my cheek, he eyes bore into mine. _Holy shit_. My heart rate doubled and I was breathing so heavily.

"Remember that next time you wanna complain about your head being between my legs. We're not far from the tower, you open your mouth one more time I'll make you wish you hadn't."

I gulped and nodded, breaking the tormenting eye contact. Gaara swooped me back up over his shoulder and took off again. I was terrified to talk to him, terrified of that jutsu. But I had to ask. "Can you teach that to me?"

"You really don't like to listen do you?" Gaara scoffed.

"Can you answer my question?"

"I can. But I won't."

"Why not?" I fought back, ignoring the warning in my head that reminded me of his threat.

"Why should I?"

I had nothing to come back with. Dammit this guy was good at shutting people down. I knew I was annoying him, but I really didn't care. As terrifying as that sand coffin was, the idea of knowing how to do it would make me such a better Shinobi. Then again, I taught myself how to make a sand shield and the bombs and the spikes, perhaps I could just as easily teach myself that sand coffin jutsu.

When we landed in front of the tower Temari and Kankuro were standing outside with panicked expressions on their faces. They really were scared of their brother.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Kankuro snarled. "This is where you went off to? Since when did this little bitch become so damn important to you? How many goddamn times do we have to tell you not to go off by yourself? Temari take her and get outta here, I need to teach our little brother a lesson or two."

"Kankuro! Don't!" Temari begged, her voice was filled with fear.

"You really think you scare me Kankuro? Don't forget I can kill you so fast you couldn't even react."

"Gaara I'm your brother! You can't talk to me like that!"

"Don't treat me like I'm your little brother Kankuro, your life means absolutely nothing to me."

My eyes watered; I couldn't believe he could say things like this to his own family. I could see Gaara's sand trickle to the ground.

"Gaara, please calm down, for your sister!" Temari cut in.

Gaara scoffed and brushed past his siblings after he nudged me off his shoulder and pushed me into Temari. She wrapped her arm over my shoulder, ignoring my cry.

"Dammit the thing's broken! I know you hate me but can you not put pressure on it!" I shot.

"I'll get you to the medical core. Be grateful you little bitch! I don't know—"

"You don't know why Gaara's not killing me and all that shit blah, blah pretending to give a fuck blah! I get it! I heard you the first damn time okay?"

"Hehe. She's got quite the mouth on her Temari, no wonder Gaara likes her so much." Kankuro snickered.

_Likes me?_ I don't know why that made me blush. Gaara was a psychotic killing machine; the idea shouldn't make me feel like _this_.

Temari took me into the tower to get my arm fixed. Kakashi-sensei was in the entrance, as if he was expecting me to show up. "Well this is a sight to see. I can take her, she's a student of mine." Kakashi-sensei smiled under his mask and took me away from Temari.

"Thanks." I said to her as she turned to go back to Kankuro.

"Hnn. Thank Gaara."

"Do I even wanna know?" Kakashi wondered as he led me to the medical core.

I shook my head. "Sorry sensei. I couldn't stay with my team."

"Don't worry about that right now, you took quite a beating."

"It was Orochimaru."

"That doesn't surprise me."

"Does anything surprise you sensei?" I wondered as we entered the medical core. Kakashi set me on a gurney and shook his head.

"Nope. We'll talk more when you come out, you've got a lot of recuperating ahead of you."

I found myself waking up in the hospital. Hnn. Maybe I should just move in here, it might be easier for me. My arm was slung up in a cast. On my bedside table was a copy of_ Makeout Paradise_. I smiled and started up where I left off in the book. I was agitated when I heard the door to my room open, who the hell was interrupting my reading time? My eye twitched over to the grey-haired man standing in the doorframe. I remembered seeing him at the chunin exams; he was the one that had cards on everyone's abilities and all that. His hair was pulled up in a pony; his bangs just touched the rims of his round glasses. What the hell was his name again? Kabuto.

"I didn't think you'd be awake." He said, adjusting his glasses over his dark eyes.

I raised my eyebrow. "You need something?"

"I'm just here to check up on you. Too bad you won't be making chunin this year. You've got talent kid." Kabuto smiled.

Something was off about this guy. I didn't like it. "Thanks. I think."

Kabuto perked his head up at the sound of someone coming. "Well I gotta fly, but I'll be seeing you around. Orochimaru is very interested in you kid, I think I can see why."

Orochimaru? What? I flipped the bed sheets off me and shot to my feet but Kabuto was gone before I could steady my footing. Kabuto was in league with Orochimaru? This situation just kept getting more and more fucked up. I found my eyes meeting up with Temari's as she stepped in my room. Guess that was who Kabuto heard coming.

"What's wrong with you kid? You look like you just saw a ghost." Temari tilted her head to the side.

"It's nothing. What are you doing here Temari? Come to bitch me out for no reason?" I sat back down and pulled the blankets back over me. Temari approached me and sat on the end of my hospital bed.

"No. You've been out for a few days, wanted to make sure you weren't dead or anything."

"Hnn. Since when do you care? You fight yet?"

"Kankuro fights with Shino next then I'm against Shikamaru, you should get out of bed and come watch how real Sand Shinobi fight."

"Alright fine." I agreed and followed Temari out.

Kankuro bailed from his fight with Shino and Temari gave me a wink before she hopped down into the arena. Kankuro had a look etched on his face.

"What's the matter with you? Why'd you bail? Too scared of Shino?" I mocked, looking over at a very aggravated Shino across the stadium.

"Piss off bitch. Or I'll break your other arm. What the hell are you doing over here anyway?"

"Aren't you so friendly." I muttered sarcastically. "Temari wanted me to watch the fight, got a problem with that dick?"

"Why you!" Kankuro snarled, balling his hand into a fist.

"Wanna fight now do ya?" I snickered. I had no idea why I was having such fun with this. "C'mon I'll take you with a broken arm."

Kankuro slugged the mummy off his back. "You're gonna wish you never said that bitch."

"Kankuro that's enough." Gaara stepped in between us.

"She started it!"

"Quit acting like a child, I don't give a fuck who started it." Gaara shot and grabbed my wrist pulling me off into a corridor out of sight. He pushed me into the stone wall and slammed his body into mine. A low growl resided deep in his throat. I felt every inch of his body pressed against me; holy fuck is _this_ why he dragged me back here? I started panicking, he hadn't even done anything yet, but I wasn't ready for this. I wouldn't even know what to do, the only thing I knew about sex was what I read in _Makeout Paradise_ and Kakashi didn't even like me reading it cuz I was too young.

_Hang on are you actually considering this? You wanna get it going with a crazy psycho killer who'll bury you alive? _

_Yes. _

_Umm. No! You whack job! Push him away!_

"What are you doing?" I finally demanded after a minute had passed. I could see the frustration in his eyes, he wanted to start something, but he was fighting it.

"Why aren't you afraid of me?" he shouted, clutching onto my throat but not applying any pressure.

I gulped, making a really stupid move, a really, really stupid move. I stroked his hair back and kissed the kanji on his forehead. _I'm fucking crazy!_ I just kissed Gaara, maybe not a full-fledged kiss on the lips but I still made contact with him.

"Why should I be?" I lied but I had to lie, I had him thinking I wasn't scared of him. That was a good accomplishment on my end. Gaara dethatched his body from mine, leaving me somewhat disappointed, I was actually hoping he'd put his hard on to some use.

_No you don't!_ A voice inside my head barked. Maybe I was reading far too much _Makeout Paradise_. I walked out through another corridor, not wanting to face Gaara, nor Kankuro and met up with Naruto on the other side of the stadium.

"Hey N'kata you're okay! Every time I went to check up on you, you've been out cold."

"I'm fine. What about you and the others? I don't see Sasuke." I pointed out as I looked around the stadium.

"Humph! Who knows where he is, probably still training with Kakashi-sensei, the idiot, they've already held off his fight with Gaara to the end and he's running out of time."

"Gaara." I gasped. "Sasuke is going up against Gaara?"

**A/N: Please Review and tell me what you think.**


	7. Me vs Shukaku

Naruto huffed and glared over at the Sand Shinobi. "Yeah, and speaking of Gaara, that little creep didn't try anything on you out in the forest did he?"

I shook my head. "No!...but…" I pondered, should I tell Naruto?

"But what?"

"I might have kissed him just now." I confessed and bit on my lip.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Naruto freaked.

"It was just on his forehead, I probably should've mentioned that to begin with."

"Are you fucking nuts N'kata? What the hell would you see in that brow-less freak? Oh god, girls kiss that guy and not me? How is that fair? Ugh! Do me a favour and don't tell that to Sasuke okay? When you left with Gaara all he did was freak out about it." he huffed.

"No he didn't. You freaked out and Sasuke told you to let it be."

"Yeah but the whole time after he was bitching to me about it, then Sakura bitched about how all Sasuke did was talk about you and not her. All of your stupid decisions are kicking me in the ass! Why do you keep telling me things?" Naruto fumed.

"Sorry. I didn't realize you would end up taking the heat." I scratched the back of my head and focused my attention back to the fight. I was shocked. Shikamaru was actually winning. He had Temari trapped in a shadow possession jutsu; she couldn't do anything at all. Hnn. So is this how real Sand Shinobi fight? I chuckled.

"I quit." Shikamaru announced.

"What!" Naruto and I yelled in unison. Naruto leaped down, giving Shikamaru hell. I jumped down after him.

"You had her beat why the hell did you quit? What's the matter with you Shikamaru?" Naruto lunged. I quickly wrapped my only functioning arm around him to hold him back, but Naruto was strong when he was mad.

"Shikamaru, you'd better buzz off before he goes bat shit crazy!" I grunted as I struggled to hold Naruto.

"Whatever, that whole fight was a drag."

"What!" Naruto snarled and broke from me, barreling after Shikamaru. Men, such strange creatures. Temari gave me a look before she leaped back up to the stands with her siblings. Sasuke only had a few seconds left before they'd disqualify him, they already held off for so long apparently.

Kakashi and Sasuke appeared right before the clock struck the hour. Maybe I'd get Kakashi a watch for his birthday. Sasuke's mouth formed a small grin when he saw me. My insides squeezed together, it was that awkward feeling again, I didn't like it.

"Sorry we're late, bad traffic." Kakashi explained with a chuckle. I scoffed. That's total bullshit right there. "Hope we're not too late."

"No, you're just in time actually." The proctor said and moved the toothpick in his mouth around.

"Good. Well N'kata, we should head up." Kakashi-sensei grinned and headed up the stairs to the observation area.

"I'll just be a sec." I answered and turned to Sasuke. "Sorry about leaving you guys back in the forest. Naruto told me you kinda freaked." I frowned, my insides were still going nuts and my tattoo was burning.

"Don't worry about it N'kata, you were hurt, it took us a few days to get the other scroll, you never would have made it, you made a good call." Sasuke answered. I smiled and turned to follow Kakashi, I saw Gaara walk out in the arena, he was glaring at me, but wasn't he always? Sasuke grabbed my wrist hard and whipped me back. He lowered his mouth to my ear and whispered. "That said, don't ever do it again!"

My tattoo was on fire; I could tell that Sasuke was having a hard time letting my wrist go. "Gnn. Dammit." He breathed with a hint of pain in his voice. Was he feeling the same thing as me? I pulled my wrist away quickly, briefly looking at the red mark he left on me. That was too freaky. I started walking towards the stairs and towards Gaara. I kept my eyes locked on the ground below me; I couldn't face Gaara and Sasuke simultaneously after one another. I brought my eyes up for a second as we passed each other; he looked so stern and heartless. As he continued to move, he extended his arm and grazed his thumb down my lips. He then traced it to my chin and along my jawline before he passed me and continued on to Sasuke.

I kept on walking, my face was beat red, and my heart was double timing it. Did that just happen? My whole body felt heavy, I had to force myself to keep on walking. I wanted to freeze but I wasn't about to get caught in a fight between Gaara and Sasuke, especially with Gaara's sand coffin. Once I made it to the stairs I sat down. Gaara's move was subtle enough that hopefully nobody on the stands noticed it. They couldn't have noticed it, they were hundreds of feet up, the fights were barely visible. After I collected myself, I went up to Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura.

"N'kata you should see my new summoning jutsu!" Naruto piped up just as the fight was getting interesting.

"Summoning jutsu? Who taught you to do that?" I raised my eyebrow.

"A legendary Sannin ninja, his name is Jiraiya, I mean he's a total pervert, but he's the real deal."

"How do you do it?"

"I thought your tattoo summoned things for you?"

"It's supposed to but I've only really summoned by accident. When Orochimaru kicked my ass to the ground I tried summoning and nothing happened."

"Did you prick your finger to draw blood? You need to do that." Naruto explained as he demonstrated how the jutsu worked.

"So blood has to touch the ground when I summon?" I mused as I tried to understand Naruto's confusing explanation.

"Yeah something like that, the Pervy Sage can probably explain it better."

I nodded, and turned my attention to the fight. Gaara had himself closed up in a ball of sand and Sasuke was trying to punch through it to no avail. Was he just gonna hide in there until Sasuke got tuckered out? It wasn't much of a fight, not until Sasuke ran up the stadium wall and made his hand spark with lightning.

"Kakashi-sensei! Is that?" I gasped.

"Mmhmm, it's my Chidori." Kakashi said.

"You taught Sasuke Chidori?" I gaped "You've gotta be kidding me, how come you didn't teach me that?"

"Hehe. Sorry N'kata but you've never been in a good state of health to do it." Kakashi laughed.

I huffed. Other then my sand jutsus, which I had to teach myself, I had nothing this cool. Sasuke sped down the wall and slammed into Gaara's sand. My hand involuntarily shot out and grabbed Naruto's. Holy fuck! I couldn't hide the worry on my face, I knew the full power of Chidori, it's what killed Haku.

Everything was silent, completely silent, it was unnerving and then…

"MY BLOOD! AHHHHH!"

My whole body coiled back at Gaara's agonizing scream. I glanced over at Temari and Kankuro. They were terrified. Gaara kept screaming and ranting on how Sasuke was his prey. Then something shot out from the ball of sand.

"Naruto what the hell is that?" I breathed, holding onto Naruto for dear life. It looked like an arm of some kind, but it wasn't a human arm that was for sure. The monster arm coiled back into the sand and everything went silent. Temari and Kankuro were ready to jump down as the sand began to disintegrate.

"Agh! Jeez N'kata you're gonna break my hand!" Naruto said, pulling his hand out of my clutches and shaking it a couple of times. I apologized and stared back down at a now unconscious looking Gaara, the whole time I wondered what that thing was.

_Master!_ What the? My ears perked at the sound of my snake's voice. I never summoned her, how was she talking to me!

_Master! You have to get out of here! The Leaf is under attack!_

"What!" I shot. Naruto and Kakashi both looked at me.

_Orochimaru is here! _

"Where is he?" I demanded. How did she know this?

"Um…N'kata who are you talking to?" Kakashi-sensei crossed his arms, a look of discomfort etched on what parts of his face I could see.

_He's sitting with the Hokage._

"No he's not! It's the Kazekage! Where are you? How do you know this?"

Kakashi kneeled down in front of me and held onto my shoulders. "N'kata answer me! Who the hell are you talking to?"

_I'm underneath the arena. I'm supposed to collect you for Orochimaru, and the Kazekage is dead! Orochimaru is disguised; he plans to kill the Hokage!_

"LORD HOKAGE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, pushing Kakashi aside and getting ready to jump. The snake burst out from the middle of the arena, and the entire stadium fell under attack. Almost everyone fell asleep from some kind of genjutsu, including Naruto. The Kazekage, or Orochimaru had the Hokage and dashed away. ANBU Black Ops dispersed to go save him. All of the Shinobi attacking were from Suna. I couldn't believe it. Sakura and I were the only ones who were unaffected by the genjutsu. As more kunai fell at us, we both sheltered ourselves.

"Sakura watch Naruto okay? I have to deal with something!" I ordered and took off to confront the snake who was heading to attack Sasuke.

I leaped down onto her head and wrapped my arm and legs around her throat. "That's enough!" I spat and although I didn't use any kind of brute force against her, she withered to the ground.

_Please forgive me master!_

I hopped down from her and stood out in front of a wide-eyed Sasuke. "What are you just standing there for?" I snapped. "Gaara and his team are getting away! Go after them! It's the Sand that's aiding this attack. I'll be right behind you!"

Sasuke gave me a half smile and dashed off. I faced the snake and crossed my arm over my cast. "If Orochimaru summoned you, why are you still calling me master?" I snapped. "Whose side are you on?"

_I owe my life to you master. When Orochimaru summoned me, I had no choice_. _I have to answer a summoning._

"Well I'm giving you a choice now! I'm following Sasuke, are you with me or Orochimaru?"

_Forgive my betrayal master! I'll follow you with my life._

"Good answer!" I said hopping on top of her head. "Then let's go!" The snake nodded and sped off. We weren't that far behind Sasuke. "By the way…" I continued as we entered a forest. "You have a name?"

_Sheeba._

"I'm N'kata, you can call me that instead of master."

_If that's what you want ma—N'kata._ I smirked as we got caught up to Sasuke; he whipped his head over as he noticed the giant snake I was riding.

"Wanna lift?"

"No need, they're stopping."

"Well Sheeba you heard him, get ready." I looked down in Sheeba's giant yellow eye and smiled. We halted as Gaara and his siblings stopped. Temari took a stance in front of her injured brother.

"You two aren't coming any closer! Kankuro, take Gaara, I'll handle this."

Kankuro and Gaara bolted off. I looked to Sasuke then to Temari then back to Sasuke.

"You go on ahead N'kata, we can't lose them and you can force your way through with that snake of yours. I'll deal with her." Sasuke balled his hand into a fist. "What the hell are you waiting for? Get going!"

I nodded and gently kicked Sheeba on either side to get her moving. She swerved around Temari easily, and with Sasuke throwing his attack, she didn't try to stop me. Sheeba sped up again; we were right on Kankuro's trail.

_N'kata, if you do come in combat, what will you do with about your arm_?

"No idea Sheeba, I just have to try and stop them!" I snarled.

As we caught up to Kankuro, he stopped. Sheeba slid to a halt and made me jerk forward.

"You're a persistent little bitch aren't you?" Kankuro barked.

Gaara jerked his head up and pushed Kankuro away. "Let go of me!"

I smirked at the two ninja and looked down at Sheeba. "Look at that, two against two, I think I'm liking these odds." I licked my lips.

_Gnn. Agh! Oh no! It's Orochimaru! He's summoning me back!_ Sheeba wailed in pain.

"What?"

_I…agh! I can't fight it! _

"For fuck's sake! Fine I'll deal with these scum myself!"

_AHHH!_ Sheeba screamed as she vanished in a puff of smoke. I couldn't be mad at her, I could tell she was actually trying to avoid the summoning, that's all she could do.

"You seem to have lost the only advantage you had." Kankuro sneered. Fuck. He was right. With my arm, I couldn't do anything too huge. I manipulated the sand to make a spike and took an attack stance.

"Sorry N'kata, but this fight is mine." A creepy but familiar voice said from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to Shino glaring at Kankuro through his round sunglasses. His mouth was hidden under the collar of his jacket. "See I never got to have my fight with Kankuro."

"Hnn. You want him he's yours." I grinned and shot over to Gaara. "That means it's just you and me Gaara." I surged forward. Stupid move. Gaara's sand wrapped around me and threw me a good ten feet across the forest before I hit a tree and fell to the ground. Agh! Dammit! I should have known making a direct attack would be pointless. Before I could even recuperate, Gaara had me pinned to the ground with his monster arm. I was crushed, what the hell was this? As I looked up, I noticed half his body was morphed into some kind of sand mutant. His teeth were razor sharp like a dogs, his left eye was black with a yellow diamond pupil and four yellow dots surrounding it. My whole body felt crushed, how was he doing this? What was he? Was this the demon inside of him? The one my mother always told me about?

"You're Shukaku!" I coughed, remembering the name Gaara called it. "Aren't you?"

"So…" Gaara barked. "You've heard of me?" Okay maybe it was Shukaku talking. "You're really annoying me brat!" Shukaku pushed his monster hand down, applying more pressure. I winced; if he kept this up I'd suffocate. My broken arm began to feel pain, I could only assume the cast was breaking.

My body was released, but soon after my chest exploded with pain as Shukaku clawed me, ripping my shirt and flesh in one fluid motion. I stared down at the blood erupting from the four gash marks that trailed from my between breasts to my stomach. It stung, so badly, I wailed, how many times was I gonna get my ass handed to me before I learned something?

"Stop it…" Gaara's voice came out as a struggle. Was he trying to fight off the Shukaku? For my sake? No he wouldn't. Gaara didn't care about his own siblings. Why would he care about me?

"Beat it brat! Her blood is good; you've been denying this from me! I don't know why I didn't want this before!" Shukaku bit his lip as more sand formed around Gaara. He was turning more and more into the demon.

I only had one shot to do this, one shot to escape. Even if the real Gaara was in there somewhere, this Shukaku was out and I didn't wanna stick around. I collected some blood from my chest and pulsed it to the ground to summon Sheeba, at this point I couldn't care less about Gaara, I had to get out of there. If I didn't I'd bleed to death.

The purple snake shot from the ground, carrying me on its head. "You'd better have a damned good reason to summon me Orochimaru." He hissed.

This wasn't Sheeba, what the fuck did I summon? I gazed down at the giant horned snake; he was much bigger than Sheeba, a lot bigger. His big green slitted eyes rose up to meet me. Why did he think I was Orochimaru?

"I demand to know why he summoned me Orochimaru!" the snake shouted and started flailing his head. I gripped onto one of his horns and held on for dear life. My chest was killing me, my whole body felt numb. I could hear Shukaku laughing hysterically. The snake snapped his head down, bolting me forward. I felt so sick. The demon completely took over Gaara's body, it was full-grown and in the form of a giant fat tanuki.

"So you're the great snake Manda huh?" Shukaku laughed. "You think a pathetic insult of an animal like you is gonna defeat me?"

"You fat ass raccoon, I'll sink my teeth in you!" Manda lunged and sunk his fangs into Shukaku's throat.

"Hehe. Tickles." Shukaku chuckled and send a blast of wind at us, sending me and Manda flying. He quickly recuperated and lunged back for an attack. My body was flopping around like a rag doll as Manda coiled around Shukaku's fat body.

"What are you waiting for? Wake up the jinchuriki! I won't hold him for long and once he's finished you're all dead you hear me! No one summons me to fight a tailed beast!"

"N'KATA!" I heard Naruto's voice call; I shot my head back and found him riding on a giant toad.

Manda snapped up at the toad, he was beyond furious. "So you're here eh Gamabunta?" he looked up at me. "And you're not even Orochimaru! Your eyes are very deceiving, they're the exact same! I got fooled by some insolent brat!" he growled. What the hell did he mean by the same eyes?

Shukaku sent another blast of wind at us, breaking himself free from Manda's constriction. Manda whiplashed his head back and sent me flying. Shukaku's arm shot out and grabbed me, squeezing me tightly, almost breaking every bone in my body. The sand around him wrapped over me and pulled me into him.

"NARUTO!" I yelped as I sunk into the Shukaku's sand body. The last thing I could see was Manda disappearing, the giant toad hurling a water bomb and I was consumed in the sand.

**A/N: Please Review. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter.**


	8. Glass and Spikes

Sand above me, sand below me, sand on either side. Fuck how much sand is there? My chest hurt like hell, my arm was luckily still intact in its cast and my other was yet to be broken. I sat up within my sandy prison and took a look around. I found myself in a hollow, empty pit inside Shukaku. I was in quite a trap. How the hell am I gonna get out of this? I pondered. I had a broken arm and I was potentially bleeding to death.

"Gnn…fuck." I rasped, clutching my blood-drenched chest. I stared down; the Shukaku had torn my shirt and even sliced my bra clean in half. "Hnn. Great. Fucking perverted tanuki." I grunted. However, to my luck, the bleeding in my chest was slowing down as it coagulated. At least I wasn't gonna die…yet. I reached my hand out to touch one of the walls, it was rock hard, I wasn't getting out of this as easily as I'd hoped.

_Wake the jinchuriki_. I remembered Manda yelling at me. I huffed. I would if I knew what the hell a jinchuriki was! How the hell did he expect me to know that? Right. He thought I was Orochimaru. That thought process made me feel worse than I did being torn and broken inside a sand demon. How was it at all possible for me to be mistaken for a monster like Orochimaru? I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't have time to think about that now! I had to get out of here.

"Gaara!" I shouted, weakly rising to my feet. If I found Gaara, maybe I could get out of this. After all, the demon was controlling him. "Agh!" I fell to my knees. It was no use, I couldn't move, I lost too much blood as it was. "GAARA STOP THIS!" I yelled, hoping he might hear me. Nothing. Fuck. There wasn't even a path leading further into the beast that I could venture down. This reminded me of that sand sphere Gaara would encase himself in. If it was like that then I could break through with Chidori. _But you don't know Chidori! Only Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke know it. _Dammit to hell! If I wasn't in the damn hospital all the fucking time then I could have learned it!

I pondered for a moment. Was it at all possible to break sand with sand? Couldn't hurt to try, there was more than enough sand for me to manipulate. I pulled the Shukaku's sand to form one of my spikes. But this spike was doing something all on its own. I watched in awe as the sand began to catch fire as it touched me and hardened into a shiny, clear crystal. It was glass, the sand turned to some kind of glass? My chakra was on fire, at least that's how I envisioned it as the sand burst into flames and surrounded around my body. It formed around me like a magmas liquid and instantly hardened until I was within a glass dome. What in the? "Agh!" I yelped and fell to my knees. My whole body erupted and stung.

"AHH! DAMMIT!" I wanted to grab my arm that stung the most but since the other arm was trapped in a cast I couldn't even do that. I stared at my morphing limb. The fuck was it doing? The skin in my wrist rose and a glass spike emerged, lengthening up to my hand so I could grab it. _Holy fucking shit! This isn't happening. This isn't happening. Agh! This hurts so fucking much! Make it stop!_ My chest began searing. I collapsed to my knees; I couldn't take the pain anymore. It was like my fiery chakra was spreading through every individual cell and burning it into nothing. The glass cut through my other arm, slicing away the cast and snapping it all into place.

"AAAHHH!"

Spikes protruded out from my back, ripping the rest of my shirt and sending shredded pieces of cloth to sink in the sand below me. Shukaku began moving around. Either he was fighting Naruto and that toad or he was feeling my chakra going crazy. I shot my head up, catching my reflection from within the glass dome. I was…a monster. Dozens of icicle spikes warped around my back, moving to their own accord. Each arm had a curved spike coming out from the wrist and extending past my hands. My nails were glass claws and tiny shards erupted from my knuckles. Then I saw my face.

_Your eyes. Something's wrong with your eyes. What are you?_

_Y-you're fighting against us?_

_Please forgive me! I didn't realize it was you_

_Your eyes are the exact same._

My eyes were bright amber with a vertical slit for a pupil, just like a snake and were lined with purple markings. My eyes were the exact same as Orochimaru's. Even when I stared at my mouth, I noticed my canine teeth had sharpened into little fangs. "What the fuck am I?" I yelled. I felt the same pain; the same fear as the day I found my mother within a cluster of snakes. I could feel my chakra pulling into the core of my body. Only this time it was a thousand times worse, my chakra burned as it rotated around, building up power, so much power. My arms shot out and sunk inside the dome, the spikes on my body extended at their own accord and fused with it as well.

My throat was sore from all the screaming that I was still doing. The chakra core dispersed through all the clear spikes, turning them red from the heat it was shooting through them. My reflection was lost as the dome started turning red and next thing I knew, Shukaku was wailing. The sand around me began to break, the daylight shone through and reflected off the dome, which closed around me at the bottom so I was within a giant block. The spikes released from my body had shot out from the dome and had a Shukaku stabbed in every vital point.

"Dammit brat! I didn't even get to kill anybody." Shukaku cursed as he sank away into sand. The forest was completely destroyed. Did Shukaku do all of this in the short amount of time he was awakened? I realized my spikes also caused quite a bit of damage to the forest as well. It was utter carnage. I pulled my arms out from the shard, and placed my hand on the glass. "What am I?" I sobbed and sank further down on my knees.

My eyes met with the many animals that got stabbed, the forest around me was a bloodbath. Finally I darted up and found Gaara. My heart stopped inside my chest when I saw the blood dripping from his mouth. "Gaara!" I cried, slamming my fists into the glass. Gaara's head rose up weakly in response, his eyes blinked at me. I searched around, the spike that got him only hit his shoulder, he lucked out unlike the other animals in this forest. The glass around me started to shatter as my chakra wasted away. My ears rang with the sound of cracking glass followed by the chiming it made as it exploded.

The wind cut my back like a blade as I whipped down, barreling closer to the ground. I could taste the blood oozing in my mouth, feel the force of gravity shoot me down and see Gaara's body falling next to mine. Our eyes were locked onto each other, he looked so weak, I had to help him, somehow. I reached my arm out in some desperate attempt to save him. Gaara's mouth formed a small smile and his sand shot out at me. Within a flash of a second he was no longer in my sight and I felt his arms wrap around my stomach and my waist and he pulled me into his body. He was gonna break the fall! We smashed through at least twenty tree branches before crashing into the dirt and creating a little crater from the impact.

I lunged my body up and over so I wasn't on him anymore. I couldn't believe he did that. Why would he do that? I lay face down in the ground, the cuts on my chest seared as they became infected with dirt.

"I will get her back! Even if I have to kill you." Naruto's voice shot in the distance.

"Naruto?" I whimpered. I could barely hear my own voice. I could barely hear anything at all.

"Stay away!" Gaara yelled.

My fingers twined through the dirt as I tried to grab it. I had to force myself to move, I had to do something. Naruto was talking, but I had no idea what he was saying. Everything was numb, yet it stung; my face was soaked in a mixture of blood and tears. Was this it for me? My eyes kept blacking out and coming back. I weakly turned my head to the side, I could only see the back of Gaara's head and a blonde crawling over using only his head to pull himself closer.

"Naruto." I murmured, forcing myself to rise on all fours, my entire body was dead and weak. I crossed over and moved to hover over Gaara. I didn't care that I was completely exposed now; I barely had anything for a chest anyway. "I'm fine. Leave him alone."

"N'kata." Naruto gasped.

"Agh!" I grunted and collapsed back down on Gaara's knees, concealing myself back in the dirt. This time I knew I'd black out for good. However I wasn't out for long. As I came to again, I was staring at a pair of feet. My arm started stinging and my insides began to feel strange. It was Sasuke. As I tilted my head further up, I saw the black marks splotched on his legs, my arm stung even more. Sasuke winced as the marks vanished away and the pain stopped. I felt grateful; I was feeling enough pain as it was.

"G-Gaara?" I coughed up. He wasn't under me anymore. "Did we?"

Sasuke nodded and pulled his shirt up over his shoulders. Even in the state I was in, I couldn't help but notice he had a nice body.

"He's…he's…not…dead. Is he?" I whimpered as Sasuke slid his shirt over my head and maneuvered my arms very gently through the sleeves. He picked me up, letting the shirt flow down and cover me before swooping me up. I found myself shocked that Sasuke's skin was so warm. He was always so cold hearted I expected everything about him to be the exact same. He pulled my arms in so they didn't dangle freely and started walking out.

"He's alive. His team took him away."

"What about…Naruto?" I wondered as I saw him lying in the dirt, looking at us. He weakly raised his arm and gave me a thumbs up. "Why are you leaving him there?"

"He's not in as critical a state as you. I'll send someone in for him. Assuming he doesn't just walk out himself, you know how fast he recuperates."

"I'm…gnn… Sasuke I…I can't…I can't feel anything." I wasn't being entirely honest I supposed. I could feel the continuous sting of pain that pulsed through me but at the same time everything felt numb. It was the worst feeling ever. "Am I gonna die?" I choked, coughing up a bit of blood. He wiped it away and rubbed it on his pants. He moved me up and held me against him, being so close made me feel an unusual amount of comfort. It was nice to feel something other than the continuous wave of pain.

"Shut up! You're not going to die." Sasuke glowered. My eyes winced, I was blacking out again. "N'kata? N'kata! Fuck stay with me! Dammit! N'kata!"

_You don't get to die this easily._

_Gaara?_

_Next time you do something reckless, you'd better pray I'm not around._

_Where are you? Gaara? _

_Your eyes fooled me brat! You're not Orochimaru! _

_What? _

_Hehe. Go ahead, use the summoning, use the power I'm giving you. _

"N'kata."

My eyes cracked open to bright white light. I was standing on nothing, there was nothing around me, just white lights and… "Mother?" I sobbed. She looked just like how I remembered her. She was in a white kimono and her blonde hair was up in a bun. She was frowning. "N'kata I am so sorry. You have to get out of the Leaf Village! It's not safe anymore."

"What do you mean mother? How am I talking to you?" I gazed around. I wasn't in a room or outside; there was literally nothing here. Was this some kind of purgatory? The opening gates to heaven? Or that place where you decide whether you want to live or die? Was I having a near death experience?

"That doesn't matter. We don't have a lot of time. Your eyes are changing and you've activated Glass Release. You might have three years before _they_ begin to notice you. That's assuming your father hasn't found you first."

"But…you said…" I trailed off. My father? She said he was dead. No. She said I never had a father. I never considered he would be alive, and if that was so, who was he?

"There's so much I meant to tell you N'kata and I don't have enough time to explain. Just get out of Konoha! Even if you have no other choice and go back to Suna, I don't care! Get away from the Leaf!" my mother begged and began to disappear. The lights began to go out and I started falling.

"Mother." I cried, reaching up for her. "Please! Don't go!" I continued falling, through the endless white lights that kept going out. She was almost gone. The lights didn't seem to stop. Fuck! No! "MOTHER!"

I shot up. My chest ached, my face was bandaged, fuck everything was bandaged. I recognized the cream coloured walls, the purple sliding door, the white plastic framed hospital bed with crisp white sheets, and the copy of _Makeout Paradise_ on the bedside table. Back in this hell hole huh? I huffed to myself. I pushed the little button on my bed and made it bend so I could sit up. I had to admit I did like that feature.

I found Sasuke sleeping on a lounge chair across from my bed. Has he been here this whole time? His onyx eyes shot open the second my bed started moving. "Welcome back."

"How long was I out for this time?" I rubbed my eyes with both hands, _that _took me by surprise. I extended both my arms, and both were fine. I remembered the extensive pain I felt when the glass broke my cast and repaired my arm on its own.

"About twelve hours. You were in surgery for three, you almost died." Sasuke explained. He sat up and cracked his neck, the sound made me cringe. He walked over to me. "N'kata. I never felt so helpless in my life. And I never want to feel like that again." His voice was so cold. I could see he was fighting back frustration. His fists were shaking. I never realized Sasuke could be so hard on himself.

I grabbed his hand, instantly calming him down. "I'm fine Sasuke."

He knelt down so our eyes were at the same level. He pulled his hand out from my grasp. "Whatever Gaara did to you, he'll never do it again. If I ever see him…I'll kill him."

I parted my lips. I wanted to say something. I wanted to defend Gaara. He didn't do anything to me! I wanted to say. He tried to save me by breaking my fall. Anything that caused me pain was from Shukaku, but to Sasuke and everyone else, Shukaku and Gaara were the same. The only thing I managed to say was, "It's fine Sasuke. I'm okay."

Sasuke burst up at the sound of the door sliding open. I smiled at Naruto and Sakura as they walked in. Naruto was also bandaged up from the encounter with Shukaku and Sakura had a few cuts and scrapes on her too. Both of them were dressed all in black, I soon noticed Sasuke was clad in black too. Sakura looked like she'd been crying. Even Naruto looked extremely sad, he was on the verge of tears. Their heads were slunk to the floor, frowns etched on their faces. My heart stopped momentarily, I didn't want to hear what they were gonna tell me. Kakashi-sensei stepped into the room and crossed over to me. I shot my head away as my eyes began to water. I didn't wanna hear it. I could tell easily from the wardrobe and the tears that someone died. I didn't wanna hear it. I couldn't deal with more death.

"We're paying our respects to the Hokage."

"No." I shot, my hands crashed into fists. "The Hokage can't be…dead. How?"

"Orochimaru." Kakashi-sensei said silently.

My blood boiled, I felt my eyes changing. My body shook and my back began to sting. I gripped the frame of my bed and as my back exploded with pain to allow a glass spike to shoot out and stab into the ceiling. "I'll kill him!" I raged, my fists were shaking, I sounded just like Sasuke did a few seconds before. I could feel my chakra heating up again. I was gonna lose it.

"N'kata! Calm down!" Kakashi ordered placing his hand on my shoulder.

I took in a breath, allowing my chakra to die down. The spike from my back shrank back into my flesh and I was bawling. Kakashi took his hand away and pulled my comrades back. "We'll be just outside so you can get changed okay?"

I nodded as my team vacated from the room. I rose up to my feet; clambered over to the hanger of black clothes on the wall behind the chair Sasuke was sitting in and got myself dressed.

I never thought I'd love rain as much as I did this very instant. I stood next to Hinata and Neji at the Hokage's funeral as the rain drenched down on me.

"I'm going to kill him Hinata." I sobbed. "He's never gonna stop tormenting me, he's never gonna stop killing until he's dead."

Hinata took my hand. "I never realized you were close to the Hokage."

"We're all infuriated at the monster Orochimaru." Neji stated. "You're not the only one who wants him dead."

"It's not just the Hokage. Orochimaru killed my mother, and I don't even know why. He brought on so much destruction to the Leaf and killed the Hokage, the one who accepted my mother and I into this village without question. So when I say I'm gonna kill him, its for more than just the Hokage! It's personal Neji."

"Um…How bout you stay with us tonight N'kata. You shouldn't be alone." Hinata suggested.

"Hinata, thank you but I'm fine, besides, your dad doesn't care for me too much."

"Well…I don't think that's true."

"Hinata don't lie to her." Neji crossed his arms. "You know full well what your father believes."

"Neji!" Hinata squeaked. "This isn't the time."

"He thinks because I'm from Suna I had something to do with the attack. I know. Your dad might not have said anything but he's easy to read." I shot my head to the ground. I could tell a lot of people thought I was involved with the Sand's attack. Just because I was born there. "It's fine Hinata, really. Besides I had a conversation with a snake and took off on it. It's only natural for people to believe I was going to join the traitors from the Sand."

"Well, the Sand did surrender and are in our allegiance." Hinata defended. I had to hug her for it. Only Hinata Hyuga would try and see the good in an otherwise despicable person or group. She really was the best friend someone could ask for; I had no idea why Naruto couldn't see that.

"N'kata Chiyha?" I broke away from Hinata and faced an old woman, her hair was up in a bun and she wore a black kimono. "I'm with the Village Elders. We would like to have a word with you."

**A/N: Please Review. Chapter 9 will be up soon.**


	9. Kicked Out of Konoha

"Happy Birthday!" Kakashi gave me no warning when he flicked my bedroom light on and started blowing a party horn. _I'm gonna kill him_, I thought and shoved my head under my pillow. The Village Elders wanted to see me today. I wasn't looking forward to that. This was the worst birthday ever! Goddammit!

"It's six in the fucking morning Kakashi! I know you're my guardian and all but do you have to act exactly like my mother?" I snapped and tried to shove him away as he continued on with that damned horn.

Kakashi smacked my head, and although I had my pillow as a shield it still hurt. "I told you how many times have I told you to watch your mouth when you're around me!"

I shoved my pillow away and sat up. Why was Kakashi-sensei so happy this early? "Sorry sensei, I'm just turning sixteen, I don't see the big deal. Sasuke just had a birthday a few months ago and Naruto's isn't that far behind. Why do you have to go bat shi—shack crazy for me?"

"I wanted to make some attempt to cheer you up before you left to see the Elders today. Can you hurt me for trying?"

"Try again in six hours. I'm a teenager Kakashi, I like my sleep, and so long as you're bent on making me happy, I could use cake, chocolate and all that crap, just saying."

"Gotcha! And since I'm your guardian and have all power and means to negotiate, you have two hours extra sleep or no cake."

"What? Oh c'mon! It's my fuc—freaking birthday! And it's Saturday! Why can't I sleep in?"

"I still want to do some training with you before your meeting with the Elders. I am after all your sensei, and your time in the hospital has held you back from the rest of your team."

"Bull!" I snapped up and rose to my feet. "You've gotta be kidding me! I took down that tanuki beast and owned a whole new jutsu!"

"You never 'owned' that jutsu, you can't even control it and it's a kekkei genkai I've never even seen or heard of before. I'm not convinced you have any control over any of your new jutsus."

"I can summon! And control sand! And I think I've done a damn good job of it! My snake Sheeba is killer! And can any other ninja make a bomb out of sand?" I retorted. I had no idea why I was defending myself so much. I knew Kakashi-sensei was right.

"The last time you tried to summon Sheeba, you summoned Manda. I don't know how a genin level ninja was able to do that. And from what you've told me, you didn't even use hand signs. Even Orochimaru has to do that when he summons Manda. It's unsettling. I'm only gonna say this once N'kata, you're not gonna use your summoning tattoo again." Kakashi stated.

I crossed my arms. "What good's a jutsu if I can't even use it? I can already tell you don't care for this glass jutsu, or whatever it is. What jutsu can I use without you getting your panties in a bunch?"

"You're so impatient. I swear hanging out with Naruto has taken some effect on you. I remember when you used to be quiet and did what I told you." Kakashi-sensei rolled his eye and started departing my room. "I want you dressed and in the kitchen in twenty minutes."

"What happened to my two hours of extra sleep?" I fought.

"Well you're already out of bed." He smiled.

What. A. Dick. I stomped to my dresser once Kakashi-sensei closed my bedroom door and grabbed my shorts and a pale green T-shirt. I bunched my hair up in a pony and twirled it around into a messy bun. I threw some socks on, tied my pouch around my waist and snagged a couple kunai off my dresser top. I slid down the stairs and into the kitchen. I skidded to a stop when I realized we had someone over. Kakashi handed me a cup of tea and leaned against the countertops. I stared at the man standing adjacent to him. He was an older guy with long crazy white hair pulled in a pony and side bangs on either side to frame his face. He had a big smile and had red streaks that ran down from his eyes. He wore a horned forehead protector with the kanji for oil graved on the front, a green kimono with matching pants and mesh armour underneath. Over top of that he had on a red haori with two yellow circles on either side and a huge scroll on his back.

"Well hey there, you must be the fan Kakashi's been telling me about. I'm Jiraiya."

Jiraiya? I heard that name before. Was he the one that was training Naruto? "So you're the Pervy Sage?" I raised my eyebrow and took a sip of tea.

Jiraiya's face sank.

"N'kata, Jiraiya's the author of the _Makeout Paradise_ novels you and I are hooked on." Kakashi stated.

My eyes went wide. Naruto was being trained by the most brilliant writer ever? That was Jiraiya? The "Pervy Sage?" Holy hell did that ever take me by surprise. I desperately tried not to hug the man whose works I idolized. I never expected he'd be a legendary Sannin (not that I really knew what a Sannin was but it had to be important) as well.

"Anyway…" Kakashi continued as I stared at Jiraiya slack jawed and speechless. "You wanna take Naruto along with you? Where is it you're going?"

"Well the Council of Elders wanted me to become Hokage, but that really isn't my deal and I'd never get to do my research. So I'm going to find Lady Tsunade, I figure Naruto would want to come along."

"Who's Lady Tsunade?" I piped in, finally able to speak.

"She's one of the three Legendary Sannin and the First Hokage's granddaughter."

"She must be amazing!" I commented.

"She is one hell of a woman." Jiraiya smirked.

"I don't see any reason why not. I'm gonna have my hands full with her." Kakashi cut in before I could ask any more questions.

"Great. Well I'll be off. See ya Kakashi, and you too cutie." Jiraiya winked at me and left the kitchen. I must have been fifty shades of red; the author of the _Makeout Series_ said I was a cutie. I couldn't help but feel a bit special.

Kakashi and I finished our breakfast and took off to the woods to train. We focused on my sand jutsus, but I had taught myself all that I could to make them as strong as possible. Then again…I could always try Gaara's sand coffin. I gathered the dirt around me and let it spiral at Kakashi's shadow clone. The actual Kakashi stopped what he was doing and took a stance next to me.

"Wanna tell me what this is?"

I made the sand wrap around the clone until it was encased. _Okay check_. I infused my chakra with the dirt and balled my hand into a fist, saying "sand coffin." But nothing happened and the clone quickly broke out and began charging me. I lifted up my sand barrier and unintentionally sent a wave of chakra through it, turning it to glass. When the clone ran into it, the glass wall shot out tiny little splinters and sent the clone away in smoke.

"N'kata. You have to keep yourself under control. I can tell that this power of yours just keeps coming out whenever it wants. You can't let it overtake you." My sensei scolded.

"C'mon it was just a barrier! And its not like it was you, it was just a clone." I shot back.

"Until you learn to control your chakra better and be able to use that glass technique when _you_ want, I want you to hold back on it. That's why we've only been working on your sand jutsus for the past three hours."

"Sorry sensei, I'm just…I dunno confused I guess. I mean, its like you're suppressing me. And you're not teaching me anything good to compensate!" I argued.

Kakashi-sensei crossed his arms. "Listen N'kata, I know this is frustrating, but it's a vital lesson to learn chakra control, it's not all about the techniques. You've got pretty decent control when it comes to your sand jutsus because that's what you've been practicing this entire time. But now that you have more powerful techniques and your control has to be doubled if you want to use them."

"Okay? So what's the plan of attack then? If I'm only practicing sand jutsus aren't we defeating the purpose of expanding my control?"

"I'm going to teach you your chakra nature. Then how you can apply it to your existing jutsus to expand your chakra's control. For instance you can perfect that sand bomb you use and make it even stronger. You could even learn the sand coffin you just attempted."

"Chakra nature?" I raised my eyebrow. "You throwing more bullshit at me Kakashi-sensei?"

"First, I've told you thousands of times, do not use that language around me! Second, understanding chakra nature is probably the best way to perfect jutsus. For instance, my Chidori is a change of chakra nature and chakra form, I make it visible and spark like lightning since my chakra nature is lightning type. Understand?"

_No._ "Yeah totally. So what's my chakra nature whatchamacallit?" I cut to the chase. This shit was boring.

"I can only assume your chakra nature is wind, judging from the way you control the sand using air and you're from the Land of Wind as well. Wind nature is the most common chakra type there."

_What the fuck is the relevance to this?_ I questioned myself. This lesson was pointless. "Okay so you're saying you think it's wind, what if its not?" I retorted.

Kakashi-sensei pulled around a few slits of paper and handed one to me. "I want you to infuse your chakra with this piece of paper. If it tears in half, it means that wind is your chakra nature type."

I glared at Kakashi, was he for real? I snagged the paper away from him and sent a jolt of my chakra through it. I was impressed at what happened, mostly because it didn't tear in half and Kakashi was wrong. The paper turned to a thin layer of glass and shattered to tiny pieces.

"Huh. Well. I wasn't expecting that. Even ninja with kekkei genkai have at least one of the five types of chakra nature. Usually they have two."

"You're saying I have two?" I huffed. This was treacherous.

"No I'm saying you don't have any, your chakra nature is this glass-like substance."

"Glass-like? It's glass Kakashi."

"Glass is manmade, there's no way it can be a nature type. Plus if it was purely glass, my clone could have shattered your barrier easily."

"Kakashi-sensei, even I know that glass is made from sand and intense amounts of heat, so one of my chakra natures would be fire wouldn't it? To make the sand heat up and form into glass."

Kakashi sat down; he was never usually stumped like this. "If it was fire the paper would have burned. I think we'll pick this up another time N'kata. In the meantime practice your sand jutsus."

I rolled my eyes. " What happened to the rest of the lesson?"

"I have to learn more about this before I can teach you anything. If this glass technique is also your nature type then we have to proceed cautiously. I don't know everything you know? And you also have that meeting with the Elders, we've been training for a while, we'll pick it up when you get back."

"Yeah whatever sensei. I'll see you later." I walked away utterly frustrated. I'd hoped getting some one-on-one with Kakashi-sensei might have helped me. Boy was I wrong about that. He didn't even know how to proceed because of this stupid glass stuff. Maybe I should listen to my mother and get out of here. When I told Kakashi-sensei about my near-death experience, he told me that Suna is the last place I would want to run off to. He said the Leaf is the safest place for me to be, but with Orochimaru throwing attacks left right and centre, I wasn't buying it.

I took off to the biggest building in the Leaf, the Hokage's old chambers. I remembered the first time I was in this building to receive my first mission as a genin. An old man greeted me once I stepped inside, his eyes glared at me through his glasses.

"You're N'kata Chiyha of the Sand." He glowered in a deep voice. Of course he added 'from the Sand' even though I always said I was from the Leaf, I had the headband didn't I?

I gulped, this guy was intimidating, but I had to set the record straight. "I'm not a spy you know." I shot, perhaps too rudely.

"Follow me." He ordered. What a dick. I obeyed him and followed him into a large spacious room with a couple of big white couches around a glass table. The old woman whose hair was in a bun and an old man with bandages around his face and a scar on his chin were sitting on one of the couches. I sat across from them and kept my head to the floor. I couldn't believe I was sitting with the Village Elders, did they really think I was a double agent?

"Due to the events that happened with Suna and the assassination of the Hokage, you understand why we have summoned you here." The woman said.

"I got the just of it. I'm not a spy. The Hidden Leaf has been my home since I was six." I explained as politely as possible.

"Although Suna has given us their allegiance, there's still a chance they will try to attack again with the Village being in the fragile state that it's in." the old man crossed his arms.

"We can't take any chances. For all we know you could be with Sunagakure, after all you weren't affected by the genjutsu that took out everyone else in the stands and you took off on a giant snake, which raises my suspicions to believe you could be with the Otagakure." The bandaged man accused.

I began laughing, I tried my hardest not to do it but it was too damn funny. This was the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

"Explain yourself!" The woman barked as I rolled around in hysterics.

"Ahahaha! You're…hahaha…you're all so stupid! Orochimaru killed my mother and you think I'm in some kind of allegiance with the Sound?"

"Young lady, you are talking to the Council of Elders! You will treat us with repect." The old man scolded.

My laugh attack stopped. "Treat you with respect? You're accusing me of aiding the attack on my home just because I rode off on a snake? I was pursuing sand ninja!"

"There may be a chance that what you're saying is true. But until the Hidden Leaf Village is back on its feet with a new Hokage, we're not taking any chances by housing a potential spy. Since you're from Suna, we're sending you back." The old woman stated. I froze. Could they even do that?

"But Suna has given their allegiance to Konoha! They've lost their Kazekage and are rebuilding their city same thing as us! What is this proving?" I fought back the urge to cry. There was no doubt I felt like these old assholes were taking turns punching me in the face. To them it didn't matter that I'd lived here for almost ten years, nor that I never had any contact with any ninja from the Sand until the chunin exams. They were the Village Elders; I guessed they could do whatever they wanted and refused to listen to reason and truth.

"N'kata, you're no longer welcome in this village for the time being. Until we know that Suna will show us no threat, you're to return to the Sand." The bandaged man glowered.

I couldn't believe it. They were actually casting me out. They actually believed that I was untrustworthy. My eyes watered now and I couldn't control the tears that were falling freely from my eyes. I was being forced to leave my home and I had nowhere to live in the Sand. Any family I had in Suna was dead; there was no one there for me. I'd have to leave my friends, and my whole life I had here behind. I wiped my eyes and glared at the Elders across from me. "Fine." I spat.

"You're to leave first thing tomorrow. A member of ANBU will accompany you to make sure you arrive there safely. Do you understand?" the old woman explained strictly.

"Yes."

"Then get ready, your companion from ANBU will meet you at the village gates first thing in the morning."

"Alright." I snarled and rose up from my seat. This was unfair. I didn't do anything wrong! If I never kicked Shukaku's ass to the ground there's no doubt he would have pillaged Konoha too! But did they credit me for that? NO! Stupid fucking old people. The Hokage never would have forced me to leave. He would have listened to me; he'd know I was telling the truth. I kept my head slunk low as I sobbed the whole way home; well it wasn't my home anymore. Once I shut the front door I caved to my knees and broke down. Tears ran out of my eyes like a faucet, my stomach hurt and I had a terrible lump in my throat that only crying more seemed to relieve. Still bawling, I pulled myself up to my feet and slugged up the stairs to my room.

I flung the drawers out of my dresser and tossed my clothes to the ground. I had to wean through them and only bring the necessities; no way I was hauling all this shit on my back for three days. I sniffled and let myself breathe as my eyes drained out of tears. My stomach still hurt and the lump in my throat wasn't going anywhere but I was physically unable to cry anymore. I rose up to my feet and padded to the bathroom. I turned on the cold-water tap and ran my hands under the faucet to splash water on my face. Water always had a calming affect on me. My mother told me when I was a baby all she had to do was stick me in a tub and I'd stop crying instantly. I splashed my face a couple more times before I turned the tap off.

I was finally calmed down, but it was only momentarily. As I faced my reflection in the mirror I stared into my amber eyes with purple markings. The snake eyes made me lose it again. It was like seeing a little piece of Orochimaru in me.

"WHY DO I LOOK LIKE YOU!" I roared and hurled my fist into the mirror, shattering it to pieces. I carried on in a fit of rage, destroying the entire bathroom until a pair of arms constricted around me. I felt my chakra heating up and pulling into my core._ No. No I can't lose it. I can't kill someone_. It was most definately Kakashi; he couldn't have appreciated me destroying his house like this.

"Lemme go!" I hissed, kicking my legs and fighting my raging chakra.

"Not until you calm down." Sasuke ordered as he kept constricting me. "What's the matter?"

"Shut up and let go of me!" I struggled. Why was Sasuke here?

"Not until you calm down." He repeated.

I felt water spring back in my eyes again. For fuck's sake, when was I ever gonna stop crying? "They're making me leave." I sniffled as I focused on breathing.

"Who?" Sasuke still kept me constricted. He was keeping the control. Was he an idiot? He saw the spikes I could release at any time; if I lost it he'd be dead. My chakra was all over the place, every time I tried to tame it, it would frenzy up again. I should have gone to Kakashi immediately after the Elders gave me the boot.

"The Village Elders. They're making me go back to Suna."

"Why?" he demanded. I didn't answer. "N'kata. Tell me why."

"They…they think because I'm from Suna I might be involved with them. They think I'm a spy. And since I was with Sheeba when we went to fight Gaara, they think I might have something to do with Orochimaru." I could feel my body de-tense but my rage was still at an all time high. As Sasuke read the way I semi-relaxed he loosened his grip and pulled his arms away. When I turned to face him, I realized he let me go so he could send his fist in the wall. I gaped at the hole in the drywall where his fist made contact. I'm positive if he activated Chidori he'd have taken the whole wall out.

Why was he so mad? They weren't kicking him out of Konoha. "Sasuke?" I whispered. My rage turned to slight fear.

"That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard!" he snapped.

"You think? But what can I do? Every time I told them I wasn't a spy they just pulled the same lined bullshit answer. I'll have to talk to Kakashi-sensei when he gets back, maybe he can talk some sense into them."

"I wouldn't count on it. Kakashi's in the hospital."

"What? When? What happened?" I demanded. I was just with Kakashi-sensei a few hours ago, what could he have possibly done?

"I don't know, once I heard I came here and found you going completely crazy. I'm on my way over now to see him."

"Okay. Well I'll catch up; I should fix the mess I've made. I have to be out of the village first thing tomorrow, so…" I took a couple steps and hugged him. "In case I don't get to see you before I leave." I said, and dropped my arms from around his neck so I could step away. Sasuke reacted a little late to the hug and wrapped his arm around the small of my back. He took the back of my head, pushed it towards him and crashed our lips together. A little squeal sounded from the back my throat. What? Sasuke was kissing me? As his were lips pressed on mine, I felt incredibly awkward. Was I supposed to kiss him back? No. My first kiss wasn't supposed to be with Sasuke. It all happened so quickly that I couldn't even stop it. My eyes were wide open with shock. Where the fuck did this come from? He never once showed any romantic interest in me. He broke away once he realized I wasn't responding to him and walked away. His lips were only on mine for a few seconds but it felt like it took forever for him to pull away. I stood in the destructed bathroom frozen in my shocked state, did that seriously just happen?

"What the fu—" I whipped around once words came to me but Sasuke was long gone. "For fuck's sake!" I shot and stomped back to my room to start cleaning up. I packed a few things that I considered important and threw my clothes back in the drawers, putting them back in the dresser. The whole time I couldn't stop thinking about Sasuke. Why would he do that? He never showed any signs that he liked me. He even said back when we were first getting to know each other that he didn't particularly like anything at all. And why now? I was leaving tomorrow morning. It's not like I could ponder if I had any feelings in return and act on them. Then again I was pretty sure I didn't think of Sasuke in that way, and things would be very awkward if I did see him again. _I think I just found an upside to getting thrown out of Konoha. _

I moved back into the bathroom and started picking up the shards of the broken mirror. I cleaned up the disaster and wrote a very long and apologetic note for Kakashi-sensei. After I had everything organized I left the house and went to the hospital.

As I wandered down the bright hallways of the medical center, it phased me that this was the first time I'd been here as a visitor. I turned a corner and knocked on the door marked 879C. The purple door slid open, and I found myself greeting Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei. Kakashi always said the two of them had something going on, and I was starting to believe him. Asuma and Kurenai-sensei were always together.

"Hey N'kata, so you've heard about Kakashi huh?" Kurenai-sensei wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me to her side. I always liked Kurenai-sensei; she was good to Hinata, which I was grateful for since not a lot of people were.

I nodded in response. "The Elders threw me out of the Leaf, then Sasuke told me what happened to Kakashi-sensei and…where is Sasuke anyway? He said he was coming here."

Asuma and Kurenai-sensei exchanged glances. "He just left, we're not really sure where. But more importantly, what's that you said about being kicked out of the village?" Asuma-sensei scratched the back of his head.

"The Council thinks…well they think I'm a bad guy to make a long story short and are sending me to Suna first thing in the morning. I came to say goodbye to Kakashi-sensei." I frowned as I saw him unconscious in his hospital bed. "What happened to him?"

"Some rogue ninja infiltrated the village. They beat Kakashi pretty badly but he'll be okay." Asuma explained. "Kakashi's gonna be out cold for a while. In the meantime, you should head home I'll go have a talk with the Elders."

I perked up instantly. Asuma-sensei would really vouch for me? "Really? You'd do that? But why?" I wondered.

"You're part of the Leaf Village N'kata, and we all know who you really are. The Council are a bunch of stupid old fucks if you ask me." Asuma-sensei smirked.

Kurenai-sensei smacked him over the head. "Will you not talk like that? You know your language bothers me sometimes." She scolded and turned to me. "How about you go see Hinata in the training arena, I'll go with Asuma and let you know what the verdict is."

I hugged the both of them before I said a quick goodbye to Kakashi-sensei and ran to the training arena. Hinata was practicing some kind of taijutsu, but it was so elegant, it looked like a dance.

"Hey Hinata!" I called as I ran over to her.

She blushed and smiled slightly. "Hi N'kata, happy birthday."

I thanked her and offered to spar, which she turned down. "You know I'm not gonna try and kill you Hinata, that taijutsu you were practicing looks really good, keep it up and you'll be pro."

"Oh. Um…thanks N'kata. So…I heard about what happened at your meeting."

"Huh? How'd you hear that?" I frowned.

"My father met with the council not long after you left to see what their verdict was. He tried to change their minds but they wouldn't even listen to him. It doesn't make any sense."

I couldn't believe it. Hinata's father tried to convince the Elders to let me stay? I thought he wanted me out too. Maybe it was more for Hinata's sake; she didn't have a whole lot of friends, at least none that I knew of.

"He…he did? Well tell him thanks. I hope he'll know how much it meant that he tried.

"Uh-huh…so…um, have you said goodbye to your team yet?" Hinata whispered softly.

"Not yet, Naruto's gone off with his trainer Jiraiya, I haven't seen Sakura today and Sasuke…" I trailed off. Did I really wanna get into that whole ordeal? No, definitely not. "I said goodbye to him earlier."

Hinata and I chatted for a bit and took a walk through the market. We ran into Kurenai-sensei who told me the bad news. She and Asuma-sensei were also unsuccessful at changing the Elder's decision. But since Hinata told me what she did about her father, I just as well assumed the Elders wouldn't budge for Asuma and Kurenai-sensei. I wouldn't be happy in the Suna desert, it was too hot and it never rained, it was windy and everyday was like a fucking sandstorm. I said goodbye to Hinata once I got the news and dragged my feet home.

The next morning after I woke up and got ready, I pulled my backpack full of personal items on and headed for the village gates. I got a little teary as I walked through the main square of Konoha. I was gonna miss this place, but the Elders did say this segregation was only temporary. Hopefully once they learned that I meant them no harm they'd take me back. The streets were so quiet; it was still so early that the shops were still closed. I had to admit I liked just hearing the birds chirping as the sun woke them.

As I approached the gates, I realized no one was there. Hmm. Perhaps they weren't sending an ANBU member after all. I sat by the gates for about fifteen minutes before I finally heard someone coming. I glanced over. He didn't look like someone from the ANBU Black Ops, his attire was completely wrong. He didn't have an animal mask and was wearing a black robe with red clouds scattered all around it. His black hair was pulled into a low pony that fell to his mid back; his forehead protector had a scratch across it and held his bangs out of his face. He was gorgeous, I thought. His onyx eyes were familiar; but I couldn't put a finger on it. He was looking right at me and I felt my face heat up. This incredibly hot guy was acknowledging me. That's when the warning bells went off, where was the ANBU guy?

I stood up. "You're not from ANBU." I crossed my arms.

"No, but I will be escorting you to Suna." He said strictly.

"On whose orders? Who the hell are you anyway? I've never seen anyone from the Leaf in cloaks like that one. You think I'm gonna trust you?" I snapped. I was giving so much attitude and he was not at all pleased. He closed his eyes briefly and when he opened them again, they were bright red. I took a step back. This guy had Sharingan? No way.

"I'm not a very patient man, so you can either drop the attitude and get moving or I'll resort to my genjutsu."

I rolled my eyes and stepped out of the city gates. It would be a three-day journey to Suna, and I was with a total asshole companion. I was silent for a few seconds before I finally got up the nerve to challenge him. "I know you're not from ANBU so just who are you with anyway? I know there's no other authority forces in the Leaf."

He scoffed. "You don't know a whole lot do you?"

"I know plenty dick. Why are you avoiding my questions?"

"Don't challenge me Nakato. I've already told you, you don't know a whole lot. Stop making assumptions about me." He glowered. I gulped, he knew my full name, no one ever called me by my full name ever. My mother never even used it, if she never told me that N'kata was just a short form, I wouldn't have known it either.

"It's N'kata!" I hissed. "And if you know my name I think it's at least fair that you tell me yours."

"My name is Itachi Uchiha."

**A/N: So sorry this chapter was pretty lengthy. Please review and enjoy.**


	10. The Aggravating Journey

**A/N: Sorry it's been a while since I posted. Hope this is okay, not the greatest chapter but hopefully its entertaining if anything. Enjoy.**

Uchiha? I spent the whole day thinking about it. Itachi was an Uchiha? Was he related to Sasuke? How did he survive the massacre of his clan? How did I not know any of this? Sasuke was on my team after all; I was even living in Konoha when the Uchiha clan was wiped out. Why didn't I ever ask Sasuke about it? Right, because he never talked about anything. And from the way the day has been going with Itachi, he was the same as the other Uchiha boy.

"So you're another survivor of the Uchiha clan? How did you escape?" I wondered as Itachi set up our tent. I was exhausted; we spent the whole day ninja running before Itachi finally decided we should stop for the night.

"I was the one that slaughtered the clan. I'm surprised my little brother never told you that."

I backed away. What? He killed all the Uchiha? And he was Sasuke's brother? "Okay that's it! Who the hell are you?" I shouted and charged at him. Itachi gracefully slid out of my path and drove his fist right in my stomach. "Agh! You motherfucker!" I cursed and fell to my knees.

"I already told you who I am. I'm Itachi Uchiha, I murdered my clan, Sasuke is my little brother and I'm escorting you to Suna. You're making the last part very difficult."

"Who wants me in Suna? Why are you taking me there? Don't try fooling me and saying you're from the Leaf, your headband doesn't prove anything! If you killed your entire clan you must be a wanted fugitive!"

"You don't give up do you? Yes I am indeed a missing-nin and an S-rank criminal. We have a long day of travelling tomorrow so get some sleep."

"Fuck you! You just admitted you're a serial murderer and a wanted man! I'll travel to Suna by myself, I'm not going anywhere with you!" I rose up to my feet and made a miserable attempt to make a run for it. Itachi grabbed the collar of my shirt and yanked me back. I collided into him and whipped around with my hand in a fist. He instantly caught it and squeezed while glaring at me with his Sharingan.

"You're making me angry." He expressed bluntly.

"Feelings mutual dick." I spat.

Itachi pulled me to the tent and tossed me inside before sealing it shut. "Get to sleep. I don't need to hear you complain tomorrow." He ordered. I huffed, like keeping me in a tent was any kind of trap. I lunged for the zipper before his voice stopped me. "You should know that I've sealed a paper bomb on this. Make one attempt to get out and you'll explode."

"ASSHOLE!" I yelled and crashed into the sleeping bag that was set up for me.

The next morning, I awoke to the noise of Itachi unzipping the tent. I sat up, still incredibly sleepy. I must have woken up six times cuz I had to use the bathroom and I was too scared to try opening the tent. Once I saw Itachi's face I bolted, by no means trying to escape, just to find a bush. Itachi grabbed my arm. "Don't even try it."

"Ease up dick! I gotta piss like a racehorse!"

"Charming." Itachi muttered sarcastically and released my arm. I ducked behind a bush to relieve myself. I pulled my shorts up and took a look around. Itachi was by the tent waiting for me. I took a couple steps back, seeing if he'd react. He didn't he just stood still. I smirked and dashed off, Itachi was bad news, I'd rather flee and be a rogue ninja then continue on with him. The nice thing about being a ninja was being able to run extremely fast. I might have ran about ten feet before I smashed into Itachi's body and fell to my ass.

I stared up at his Sharingan eyes; dammit he must have seen what I was up to the whole time. He was just playing with me. "Pathetic." He shot with the intent to sting. How could his words have such an impact? "I warned you not to try it."

I gulped and shot my body away from him, he wasn't an easy opponent. There was no way to get away from him. With his Sharingan, he could see everything. "Now." He started, his eyes bearing into mine. "You're coming with me."

Nothing happened, so I quickly got up and raced for him. I wrapped my arms around his middle and hurled our bodies to the ground. I got him! I couldn't believe I actually got him. I pinned his arms over his head and held his legs down by sitting on the lower half of him. There was no expression in Itachi, not one. I reacted to the feel of his hand moving in my grasp, it raised a finger and pointed behind me.

I whipped my head around, bringing my eyes to Itachi who was standing with his arms crossed. What? A clone? I felt the body I was on top of disappear and I was shrouded in a flock of crows. I couldn't see anything but the black birds that would shrill and caw right in my ear. What the hell was this? A force shoved my body down and I was pinned to the ground. As the crows flew away, Itachi was hovering over me, my hands were held above my head and his legs held my lower body in place. He had me exactly the way I thought I had him. Damn him, he was good. I never knew Sharingan was this intense.

"Are you done N'kata? No matter what attack you pull, I'll see right through it." I fought back and he tightened his hold on me. "Don't bother. You're down. In this state I can do whatever I want."

"Keep the pervy thoughts to yourself asshole!" I snarled.

"You're in no position to tell me what to do! So I want you to listen very carefully. When I let you go, you're gonna get up and we're going to continue on to Suna. Try fighting me off and I'll use even harsher genjutsu that'll put you in the hospital like your sensei."

I gasped. "You…you were the ninja who attacked Kakashi-sensei?"

"Isn't that what I just said? You really are quite stupid."

"Fuck you!" I shot back.

Itachi rolled his eyes and moved away from me. I stood up and stared at him for a minute. He stared right back, he was expecting me to throw another punch, but I knew better. I shoved past him and went back to the road, picking up my pace until I was in ninja run. Itachi was close by and staring intently. We covered more ground and once again we stopped for the night. Itachi set the tent up and got a fire going. I sat in the grass and moved my hands near the crackling flames, letting them engulf me in their warmth.

"So who wants me in Suna?" I demanded once again.

"The Council of Elders in Konoha, they are the ones that defected you from the Leaf are they not."

"Don't be smart with me dick, I mean who sent you to escort me there?"

"I'm not obliged to tell you anything N'kata. My only job is to take you to the Sand."

I huffed and slunk down. Itachi wasn't budging. Was he sworn to secrecy or something? Why wouldn't he tell me who he worked for? Unless he was the leader and he himself wanted me in Suna. That still didn't answer the question why. Then I wondered, who would be waiting for me once we got to the Sand? Itachi looked up and frowned. "Looks like it's gonna rain. We should take cover." I glanced up at the dark forming clouds in the night sky. I stood up as the rain began to trickle down and retreated into the tent with Itachi.

I couldn't sleep; the rain evolved to a thunderstorm and I leaped up with each cracking boom the sky made. I tossed in my sleeping back and faced the Uchiha that was out cold. Then again he could be fooling me. I wondered if Itachi ever slept at all.

"Itachi?" I whispered. No answer. _Boom!_ I shuffled to a sitting position, my heart pounding. I was never scared of thunder, yet I found myself wanting to curl into a ball. This thunder was merciless. I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged myself, fighting the water in my eyes.

"I never would have pegged you for being scared of thunder." Itachi's voice sounded. I scoffed. I wasn't scared of thunder, just _this_ thunder.

"I'm not!" I retorted.

"Then why are you crying?"

"I'm not!" I snapped, only proving him right as hot tears flowed down my cheeks. "I'm sick of crying so I'm not fucking crying I just have something in my eyes."

"You're crying. It's not something you should be ashamed of. You're an emotional woman, it's natural."

"Fuck you!" I shot and shoved him. "Ever hear of sexism you fucktard? Men cry too."

"Maybe, but you just admitted you cry a lot, so you're really proving my point all the more. You're a woman? You're emotional? There's nothing sexist about it. It's a fact."

"You're such a moron!" I hissed.

"And you're a foolish little girl if you think you can hide the truth from me. My eyes see everything."

"Keep bragging about your eyes and I'll rip them out of their sockets!"

"Are you threatening me?"

"Wouldn't make a difference would it? Your eyes see everything, I could reflex my hand and you'd have me pinned in a second."

"You're a fast learner."

"No shit. The only reason I haven't made any attempt to rip your throat out is because I don't know how to beat you yet. I suck at genjutsu, and my eyes have nothing compared to yours."

"So you admit you've been strategizing to beat me? You won't be able to." Itachi declared.

"I just told you that didn't I? You really are a stupid man!" I shot back. _Boom!_ I leaped up again, the thunder sounded like the apocalypse was coming.

Itachi smirked. "Well at least all I have to do to beat you is put you in a thunderstorm and you're paralyzed."

"Shut up!" I snarled and lay back down. Just one more day and we'll be in Suna. I thought.

The remainder of the journey was silent, which I enjoyed and I believed Itachi did too. I learned very quickly he wasn't one for making idle conversation. And since he wouldn't tell me what I wanted to know, I couldn't give a damn if he talked to me or not. We arrived at the desert as the sun went down and Itachi began to turn back.

"Where are you going? We still have the whole bloody desert to cross!" I put a hand on my hip and shifted to one side.

"I'm afraid this is where we part ways Nakato Chiyha. I was instructed to escort you to the Sand and I have."

I huffed. " The fuck Itachi? What aren't you telling me? And it's N'kata!"

"There's a lot of things I'm not telling you, and a lot of things I never will tell you. However what I will say is this, you've caught our attention and we will be keeping a very close eye on you." Itachi began walking away and took off in a blur.

I was alone yet again, confused and extremely agitated. That was by far the worst three days of my life. I faced the vast desert that stretched for miles ahead of me and sighed.

_Well, it can't get any worse._

**A/N: Aaaannd she's finally in Suna! Please Review :)_  
_**


	11. A Whole New Gaara

As I crossed the Suna Desert I was beat. Even in my shorts and T-shirt I was sweating like crazy. I should have brought more water, how much longer is this fucking desert?

_Just keep walking, just keep walking._

_I'm still walking, I'm not seeing anything, holy fucking shit when will I get there?_

_Itachi could have stayed a bit longer; I actually wouldn't mind his company._

_Walking, walking, walking, walking, and oh yeah I'm still fucking walking. _

_It's too hot!_

_No shit it's hot! You're in the fuckin desert! Of all the places those fucking old cocksuckers could have defected me to it had to be this goddamn hellhole! _

_You know Gaara lives here right?_

I perked up at the thought that only just entered my mind. I would be in the same village as Gaara. My insides fluttered around like butterflies. I couldn't explain what it was that drew me to him, but perhaps being forced back to his desert was some kind of fate. Maybe Gaara and I were supposed to be in the same place.

_Stop daydreaming! Your being defected has nothing to do with fate! You sound too much like Neji! It's annoying!_

"Hey! You! Stop right there!" a voice snapped me out my thoughts and made me focus. It was a Sand Shinobi, I recognized him from the chunin exams. Half of his face was covered by his turban-like headgear and the other side had two red markings on his cheek. He wore the same clothes most Sand Shinobi wore, a beige flak jacket, matching trousers, a forehead protector and Shinobi sandals. "Who are you?"

"I'm N'kata Chiyha, from Konoha. The Council of Elders sent me here. Didn't you hear about it?"

"Where's the member of ANBU? We were told you'd be escorted here."

"Well…he left me at the desert." I semi-lied.

"Listen, we can't just assume that you are who you say, I—"

"Baki. This is her." I knew that voice, that raspy voice that made my heart pound frantically inside my chest.

Baki and I both faced Gaara as he emerged as if from nowhere at the giant rock wall that led into Suna. There was something different about him. Not only was he wearing a reddish-brown outfit with the white cloth over his shoulder to tie the gourd onto his back, unlike what'd I'd seen him in before, but there was something different in his eyes. They were alive. "Gaara! What are you doing out here?" Baki barked.

"I heard a genin from the Leaf was being defected here. I knew exactly who she was the minute I found out. She's welcome to this village. I owe her that much." He said calmly, staring at the claw marks that peeked out from the hemline of my shirt.

"Fine, but I'm sending word to Konoha, and if it turns out she isn't the ninja that w—"

"You really think the Leaf would send one girl to destroy the entire Sunagakure? Go ahead and send word, but I can guarantee you, this is N'kata Chiyha." He stated and took my hand. I could feel myself flush and I hoped Gaara didn't notice as he led me into the village.

Suna looked the exact same as I remembered it, dome-ish buildings all made of a sandy brick and a constant sandstorm blowing through it.

"You're still staring at me." Gaara said meeting my eyes and forcing me to look away as I flushed a shade of red. He was almost as observant as an Uchiha. I hated that.

"You look…different." I confessed, taking note to that glimmer in his eye. That light of life that made me feel warm on the inside. Something about Gaara changed.

"Different?" he raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah, last time I saw you…well…"

"You were gushing blood on me, after you stabbed me." Gaara chuckled, _chuckled_. Who was this guy and what did he do to the cold-hearted Sand Shinobi that I used to know. He thought our previous encounter was something to laugh about.

"Sorry." I shot my face to the ground. I didn't think it was funny.

"Don't be. I owe you my life N'kata Chiyha." He smiled, once again taking me by surprise.

"You're smiling." I kept my face down as I blushed yet again. "But it's the other way around Gaara, you took the fall for me that day, I could have died if you didn't."

"That's not what I'm talking about. That day, you defended me, even after I tried to kill you, and every day since that happened I could never understand why. Even after Naruto Uzumaki told me that caring about people and having friends is the most important thing to a Shinobi and makes them stronger, but I was your enemy and still you saved me." Gaara stopped moving and stared down at me, grabbing my arms just below my shoulders and pulling me into his form.

"G-Gaara!" Baki gasped from behind us, he was just as shocked from Gaara's sudden change of heart as I was.

My arms dangled at my sides and I was vaguely reminded of my moment with Sasuke, only I felt okay with this current predicament. If Gaara were to make a move, I certainly would not object to it. However, his hug was too short lived and he had my hand back in his grasp and continued leading me to the Kage's building. Once I got settled in Suna I would definitely be writing a huge letter to Naruto, I had a lot of stuff to explain.

After confronting another set of Village Elders, who were just as annoying as the Elders in Konoha, they decided that (upon Gaara's request) I would reside with The Sand Siblings until they were able to find me an apartment of my own. Baki sent a hawk to Konoha to make them aware of my arrival as well as questioning the whereabouts of the ANBU Black Ops that was supposed to escort me. I kept my mouth shut about being escorted by Itachi Uchiha; having a strong hunch I would be in shit if anybody knew about that.

I set my pack on the hardwood floor of my new bedroom. A bed mat lay directly across from me, a dresser was set up on the adjacent wall and that was it. Ugh. This was gonna suck, big time. I sat cross-legged on the floor and pulled a scroll out of my pack with a pen and ink.

_Naruto,_

_I suppose by now you've figured out that I've been kicked out from the Hidden Leaf. Hopefully you didn't freak out too much, I know Sasuke did, it was kinda strange, but I've noticed Sasuke has been a little different lately. I was supposed to be escorted to Suna by someone from ANBU but Sasuke's brother Itachi showed up instead. He said he'd be keeping a close eye on me…I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean, but it can't be good, I know Itachi is a bad guy, but I dunno…_

_I hope your training with Jiraiya is going well and I hope you're learning a lot. Don't get too cocky though. It's annoying. Say hi to everyone for me and please be careful. I know Itachi is keeping an eye on me, but he said he was working for someone, he wouldn't tell me who, but I have a really bad feeling about it so don't do anything stupid! I know that's a bit hard for you to do, but you have to trust me on this. I can handle whatever Itachi plans on dishing out; right now he says his objective is keeping me safe… for now. _

_I'm sure we'll meet up again soon, and we'll both be powerful Shinobi. I'm gonna miss you and the rest of Team 7. See you soon, believe it._

_N'kata._

_P.S. Please don't mention any of this to Sasuke. I don't think he'll handle it too well and I don't want to sound like I have no faith in my comrade but he won't be able to take Itachi. Not yet. _

I rolled up the scroll and departed from my room to send it out. My childhood memories of Suna came rushing back to me as I leisurely strolled through the rocky dirt path. I even saw the swing set I used to play on was still there and as I slunk myself down on the swing and started rocking back and forth, I remembered that day I first saw Gaara control the sand. I couldn't help but ponder what had happened to Gaara to make him so…different. I mean it was a good kind of different, he wasn't so heartless but was it really Naruto that made him ponder so much about the true nature of his character? Or was it me?

"Hey brat!" Kankuro's voice lured my head over my shoulder where I found him grinning across the grounds. "Gaara told me you were here, but I just never would have guessed. Finally get sick of you in Konoha?"

"You want something Kankuro?"

"Nah! Just wanted to say hi and Temari said you can have dinner with us, if you want and all that shit."

"And you say I have a foul mouth." I reciprocated his grin with one of my own. "Sure, I'll catch up later, I have to send a letter to the Leaf."

"Whatever bitch, I was just tryin' to be nice. Whatever you did or said to Gaara at the chunin exams…well, he's completely changed. He's even striving to be the Kazekage, he thanks you and that Naruto kid for it every day." Kankuro turned away and I too took my leave to send a falcon off to Naruto.

_Kazekage._ The thought swelled deep in the pit of my stomach, it was such a good feeling, I wasn't sure how to explain it. I was responsible for Gaara's new motivation to become the Kazekage, well me _and_ Naruto.

Later that evening I sat awkwardly across from Temari and Kankuro, Temari just looked at me as I picked at my food. Gaara was sitting next to me and was completely stoic. At least he didn't change that much. Then I felt something press against my foot, very lightly at that and started moving back and forth. Someone was playing with my foot. My face flushed a bright shade of red, and I very cautiously nudged the foot back, noticing Gaara's lips curl into a small smirk. He playfully kicked my foot again, that smirk still on his face.

"What are you two smiling about?" Kankuro raised his eyebrow and took a bite out of his dinner.

I didn't even realize I had a giant grin plastered on my face. I was so immature. Oh gods this was embarrassing. Here I was playing footsies with Gaara under the table when Temari and Kankuro were right there. I'm sure they already knew I liked Gaara; I'd saved his ass from getting eaten by a snake at the chunin exams. Even so, I still felt awkward with the fact that they knew something. I stuffed my face with noodles and ignored Kankuro's observation, hoping to get any unwanted attention drawn away from me.

The four of us silently finished eating and while Temari and Kankuro departed to train, Gaara and I got stuck doing dishes. We were completely quiet; the only sound was the plates clacking against each other. _Should I say something?_ I pondered but knowing me I'd say something completely stupid and make a fool of myself.

"I'll train you." Gaara's voice made me snap back to the real world, I wasn't even sure what he just said or what that was supposed to mean.

"Huh?"

"At the chunin exams you asked me to teach you my jutsu. If you still want to learn…then I'll teach it to you."

"R-really?"

**A/N: Please Review and Enjoy :)**


	12. Not Exactly Training

**A/N: Okay there's some lemony stuff in this chapter, so you have been warned. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for all the reviews! I really appreciate the feedback.**

_Clang!_

The sound of our kunai clashing together rang in the hot desert air. Gaara ran at me, his sand circling around him like a vortex. I instinctively did something similar, but with glass. Hey Kakashi-sensei wasn't around to tell me not to use it, and for the two weeks of training I was doing with Gaara, I already felt I had more control over it. The only jutsu I didn't use was the summoning. If what Kakashi-sensei told me was true and Orochimaru could sense me whenever I used it, then I would stay as far away from it as I could. I wasn't ready to take on the snake man yet. But sooner or later he would face my wrath.

"N'kata focus!" Gaara barked, snapping my attention back to the Sand Shinobi who was still racing at me. I flipped back and pulled another kunai from my pouch. Sending my chakra through it, I turned it to glass and threw it at him. His sand shield blocked it far too easily and before I could even take a step I was pinned to the ground. I gazed up into sea green orbs, blushing like mad, goddammit this was so problematic. How was I supposed to focus like this? Struggling under Gaara's weight, I finally went slack and slammed my head into the sand.

"Okay, you win…again!"

"You're not taking this seriously N'kata." Gaara answered sternly.

"The fuck are you talking about? I've been training my ass off!" I retorted swinging my hands up but Gaara slammed them back down in the sand, and a little too roughly for my liking. "I'm just off my game today!"

"And yesterday and the day before. I taught you how to use sand coffin and you still can't do it properly, your chakra levels are so off balance its no wonder you failed the chunin exams!"

"I failed the chunin exams because I got my arm broken, you know that!"

"Even so…you need to learn better chakra control, and that's something I can't exactly teach you."

I pondered on what he said and instantly understood. Gaara probably had to focus so much on his chakra control especially since he had Shukaku dwelling inside of him. It would be difficult to have to teach that to someone else while trying to keep your own demons in check right? Maybe Gaara was right. Maybe I wasn't taking this whole training thing seriously, but what could I say I was impatient, I wanted to kill Orochimaru and I wanted to kill him now!

"N'kata are you even listening to me?" Gaara snapped, bringing my attention back to him.

"Sorry sempai I wasn't." I rolled my eyes and moved to get out from under him but Gaara pushed more weight on me. "Okay I get it I need to stop messing around you can get off now!"

"No. If I were an enemy you'd be dead right now! If you want to leave you'll have to fight me off."

"What? How the fuck is that fair? You have me pinned!"

"Hmm. Clearly your sensei in the Leaf was far too lenient. If you can't fight me off then what's to stop an enemy Shinobi from killing you in an instant if they got you in this position?"

I rolled my eyes and gave Gaara a sly grin. "Fine you wanna play dirty, I'll play dirty." I declared and sank us into the sand, using my chakra to wrap it around his body and pull him off. Gaara instantly countered, using his own sand to break through mine and ran at me. I remained stationary until he was only inches from me, I learned that in order to beat Gaara and his shield I had to be fast and catch him off guard. I moved out of the way with only seconds left before he'd collide with me again and appeared behind him, wrapping my arm over his chest and making a glass kunai with my other hand and holding it to his throat. "How's that for focus?"

Gaara smirked lightly but when his voice sounded, it came from behind me. "Not bad, but the fact that you couldn't even tell I was using a clone this whole time just shows how much you lack focus!"

A force shoved me down and this time I was laying on my stomach while Gaara held me down. His body pressed against mine so I was literally sandwiched between him and the sand underneath us. His hands caved over mine, twining his fingers with mine and my heart was going wild. Holy shit this was making me crazy. I turned my head only slightly, meeting Gaara's gaze, a gaze that held some kind of want that I remembered seeing at the chunin exams when he pressed me against the wall after I tried fighting with Kankuro. I must have been out of my mind or high off adrenaline but whatever made me inch my way closer to Gaara wouldn't stop until we were only a breath apart. I didn't move another inch, but that didn't stop him from closing the gap between us. Warm, soft lips pressed so eagerly against mine and my stomach went berserk. Gaara was kissing me, actually kissing me, and I was very quick to kiss him back.

His arms wrapped under my body and flipped me onto my back and he hungrily claimed my mouth once again. I couldn't help but let out a tiny whimper and the instant my lips parted, Gaara slid his tongue into the caverns of my mouth. My fingers delved into his spiky auburn hair and my legs instinctively wrapped around his waist. I was on a hormonal outburst; the only thing running through my mind was getting more. I could feel my face heat up when his hands rested on my hips and started moving up under my shirt and pulling it up. Shit. Was I even ready for this? Gaara moved his lips to the hollow of my throat and another silent moan escaped my lips. He continued kissing my neck until I couldn't take it anymore, I was so ready for this; I had to get more of this euphoria. If _Make Out Paradise_ taught me anything it's that this was only the beginning to how good it got.

I grabbed his hair roughly and pulled him back so I could taste his lips again. Our tongues danced and I could feel my hips grinding against his. "Don't tempt me woman." Gaara mused hooking a finger in the waistline of my shorts. Holy fucking shit I was so ready for this! Then as if he was trying to torture me, he very slowly started to pull them down while his other hand reached under my shirt to cup my breast.

"Shit Gaara stop fucking tormenting me and do it!" I barked, feeling a very uncomfortable wetness between my legs.

"Look who's so impatient. You really want to do this in the middle of the desert? Where anyone can just walk by and see us?" he teased tugging my shorts down just enough so he could reach his hand under and slide his fingers inside me. I arched my head back and moaned loudly as he continued to toy with me. I thought I was about to explode, this was perfection. "Yes." I breathed before he crashed his lips back down on mine and thrust his fingers in deeper, harder, turning my already loud moans into cries. I reached out, grabbing his pants and tugging at them. Gaara smirked and took my wrists in his one hand and pinned them above me. "I'm not finished with you yet." He murmured in my ear and started pumping his fingers faster. My euphoric cries echoed through the empty desert and I couldn't care less if someone heard or saw. I could feel myself tightening around him, I was on the brink and I panted hard as I fell into my orgasm.

"Holy fuck Gaara what are you doing to me?" I breathed, trying to regain my sanity. He kissed me once again, withdrawing his fingers and pulling at the draw stings of his pants. I was too nervous to actually bring my eyes any farther than his chest and once I felt his manhood against me my nerves skyrocketed. Gaara pulled himself away and stared deeply into my eyes.

"Are you sure about this N'kata? Have you even done this before?"

I flushed. "N-no. But—"

Gaara didn't even let me finish my sentence before he moved away from me and pulled his pants back up and tying the draw stings. I didn't get it, he seemed so eager, why the hell would he cut himself off like that? To hell with him, why did he cut _me_ off like that? I quickly pulled my shorts up and readjusted my shirt.

"Why are you—" I started and Gaara once again cut me off by gently pressing his lips to mine.

"You shouldn't just give yourself to somebody. It should be with someone you love."

"You really gonna give me that fuckin' speech? Did you hold out for someone you love?" I rolled my eyes. "I mean come on you were ready to and everything until…"

"Who said I didn't love you N'kata."

I was ready to pound him for continuing to cut me off, but once the words he spoke actually settled in my head I wasn't sure what to say or what to think. Did Gaara just tell me he loved me? No way, it's only been a couple weeks since I've been here and we've only ever been training nonstop. Obviously he expected the look of shock that resonated on my face because he merely smiled as if he proved some point. He took my hand and we started walking back to the village.

"So…" I started after a few minutes of awkward silence. "Are we a thing now?" I wondered, not knowing exactly how to proceed with this whole situation. I mean I didn't really know if I was in love with Gaara but I had really strong feelings for him and I think what happened out in the desert was proof of that. And if Gaara loved me like he seemed to have said, then wouldn't he want us to be a couple of some kind?

"Are you asking me to be your boyfriend?" Gaara raised a brow.

I flushed under his gaze. "Umm…yeah I guess so, I mean I think you know how I feel about you so…"

Gaara silenced me with a kiss, answering my question at the same time. I couldn't even get over how addictive his lips were; I could spend hours kissing them.

* * *

_WHAT THE FUCK N'KATA! I'm gone for a few days, almost got kidnapped by Sasuke's brother, then next thing I know I'm back in the Leaf, Sasuke's in the hospital, you're not here and I'm being ordered around by some old lady whose the new Hokage! Then I get a letter from you, saying you ran into Itachi too! And you're telling me not to worry about it? I'm freaking the fuck out! And you're stuck in the Sand Village with those scumbags who helped Orochimaru kill the Third Hokage! DO YOU SEE WHY I'M IN A GODDAMN PANIC! _

_Sasuke woke up thanks to Granny Tsunade (new Hokage) and went fucking nuts! He went to fight me and everything and we almost hurt Sakura! He's been acting really weird and distant ever since. _

_Now that we have a new Hokage, you'd better be allowed to come back. I don't like that you're there, well no one does actually. Kakashi-sensei was furious when Granny Tsunade said she had more important things to do than bring you back here, but we're starting to annoy her with it so any day now and you'll be back with Team 7! Believe it!_

_Naruto._

I closed up the letter from my old comrade and let out a breath. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to go back to the Hidden Leaf anymore. Especially now the way things were going on with Gaara. Even Temari and Kankuro weren't so bad now that I got to know them. On the other hand it would be nice to see everyone again. I set the folded letter onto my dresser and crossed into the bathroom to take a shower. I could have sworn I brought half the desert back in my hair.

I pulled on a black kimono and headed down to the living space where I found Kankuro working on a puppet, Temari cleaning her fan and Gaara kneeling at the table eating noodles. I couldn't control the blush that stained my cheeks as I kneeled next to him.

"Don't tell me you're leaving in that?" Temari raised her brow pointing out my attire.

"What are you talking about?" I crossed my arms.

"The Fifth Hokage needs our help. Sasuke Uchiha fled from the Leaf and there's a squad going after them, we need to provide backup. Unless you wanna stay here with Baki…"

"No!" I snapped and rose up to my feet. "If someone told me earlier than I would have—goddammit! Don't fucking leave without me or you're all dead!"

**A/N: Please review, and I hope you all liked the chapter.**


	13. Sasuke's Words

I couldn't believe it. There's no way. Sasuke defected from Konoha? Why? Why the hell would he do something like that? How could he just leave his friends and comrades like that? And what could have possibly possessed him to do it?

I ran faster than the Sand Siblings, only focusing on moving farther ahead, I had to get to Sasuke, I had to stop him.

"N'kata!" Gaara called, swinging his arms under his body as he leaped next to me. "I sense an unusual amount of chakra, I think it's those sound ninja Lady Tsunade told us about."

I whipped my head back to the other two Shinobi behind me. "Temari, Kankuro, go check it out!"

"Don't tell me what to do bitch!" Kankuro bit, but the look I gave him made him follow my order anyways.

"Gaara and I will keep moving ahead and find Sasuke." I sped up, but I worried my pace wouldn't be fast enough. Temari and Kankuro split and the only thing I focused on was moving forward. _How could you do this Sasuke?_ I couldn't believe how emotional I was getting about this; I focused so hard to keep myself in check. "C'mon Gaara! Hurry up!" I shouted as we raced for the light pooling from the trees, we were almost at the clearing and I could see Rock Lee fighting someone. _Keep running! You have to!_

I leaped into the clearing, launching myself at the white haired ninja with an open kimono shirt and a purple rope belt around his waist, just like Orochimaru's. His sickly pale face turned and his arms stretched out and grabbed my fist before I could even throw it.

"What the fuck did you do to Sasuke?" I shouted, my blood was boiling, I could feel my eyes tingling, and my insides were churning like they always did when Sasuke was close. My tattooed arm stung with pins and needles but it was from this ninja in front of me. His pale eyes scanned me over and a small smile washed over his features.

"I am going to make sure the vessel for Orochimaru will make it to him," he said as if I was supposed to understand that.

"The fuck are you talking about? Where's Sasuke?"

"He's going to Lord Orochimaru, he's going to attain the true power of the curse mark."

His grip around me got tighter and I could feel my chakra surging in my core. I turned my head and faced Gaara and Lee "You two should step back…Gaara, you know what happens…" I trailed off bringing my gaze back to this ninja, glaring into his own sickly orbs I could see the purple markings around my amber eyes.

"So, what Kabuto told me is true…you are Orochimaru's true progeny."

Suddenly everything around me stopped, my chakra network just cut short but my eyes stayed the same, I couldn't believe what this son of a bitch just said to me. "What the fuck did you just…his progeny? Just who the fuck do you think you are?" I shrieked kicking my foot into his stomach to free myself from his grasp.

"You need to be brought to Lord Orochimaru as well, perhaps I can still be a purpose to him."

I opened my mouth to revolt but by then Gaara had stepped in front of me and stretched his arms out. "N'kata belongs to me! You won't take her anywhere!" he said sternly and shot a wave of sand out. "I'll handle this N'kata," Gaara added, facing me while the sand blinded the ninja. "I'm sure Naruto will need your help."

I nodded quickly and as I ran by Gaara I stopped only for a second to claim his lips in mine. "Thank you Gaara. You'd better not die," I flashed a hint of a smile and dashed off, following the pain in my arm. Sasuke.

_You are Orochimaru's true progeny._

I winced, what the fuck did that even mean? There was no way…I grunted, pushing my thoughts back. I had no time for this! I had to save my friend from this snake bastard.

"SASUKE!" Naruto's voice yelled, making my pace double. It wasn't long before I saw them clashing over a vast waterfall in between two statues of the founders of Konoha. Forming my hand seals I swung the dirt around me and formed it into a cloud, hovering it up. Performing another hand seal I wrapped manipulated the sand around Sasuke and held him still while Naruto regained himself and leaped backwards onto the statue of Hashirama Senju.

"I wasn't expecting you'd show up…N'kata." Sasuke sneered, his voice was so cold, and his chakra was dark.

"Sasuke what the fuck are you doing?" I shouted, I could feel my eyes water but I made them stop, there's no way in hell I would cry not for Sasuke's sake. My hold on him broke and it broke far too easily. In one swift movement, Sasuke shot his arm out and the sheer force of his strength alone sent me barreling down to the water. He just countered my attack…how did he get this strong?

"N'KATA!" Naruto screamed as I crashed under the waves. My arm was throbbing; it was almost impossible for me to focus. I surfaced from the water and pulled myself up, leaping onto one of the statues and blocking Sasuke's path.

"Get out of my way N'kata! I'm going to find Orochimaru!" Sasuke ordered, striding over to me in some attempt to intimidate me. I stretched my arms out, fusing my chakra with my fingertips and making a wall of glass behind me.

"You're not going anywhere Sasuke! What the hell is going on? What the fuck could possess you to do something like this? Orochimaru killed my mother! How could you…"

"We both have people we have to kill, if I stuck around in the Leaf with those losers, I'd never get the power I have now! Only through hatred and darkness can I hope to kill Itachi! You left and already you've gotten stronger, it's obvious that we don't belong in the Hidden Leaf."

I balled my hand into a fist and felt it explode as it cracked into his jaw. I searched around my surroundings and found Naruto struggling to pull himself up by the riverbank. I had to buy more time; I had to get some sense knocked into him. "I never would have left my friends if I had a choice! I would never join someone so evil!" I punched him again, but Sasuke just took it, it was like he didn't even care. That made me more frustrated and I kept punching, over and over until he finally grabbed my wrist and glowered at me through his Sharingan.

"You're with him aren't you? You don't think he's evil?"

I gasped. He was talking about Gaara? And there was a part of me that urged to defend him that won over everything else. "You're wrong Sasuke! My situation is completely different! Don't try and justify yourself! I'm not gonna stop! I'm going to kill Orochimaru and I'll kill anyone who stands in my way! If you stand with Orochimaru then I will kill you! I'll work with Itachi if I have to get the point across to you!" at this point I had no control of the words coming out of my mouth. Fury had taken over, I couldn't believe I told Sasuke I'd team with his brother.

My jawbone cracked with a loud snap as Sasuke's fist collided with it. I had to admit, I deserved that one.

"YOU BITCH!" Sasuke screamed, throwing his fist at me again, crashing me through my own glass barrier. I pulled all the shards up using my chakra and shot them forward, the two of us were only running on fury. Sasuke dodged every shard I flew at him, his Sharingan picked up my every movement. We clashed against each other, but we weren't getting anywhere, my chakra was almost exhausted and my glass techniques weren't doing anything at all.

"You might have some powerful curse mark…but you underestimate my ability!" I boisterously declared, not thinking, I thrust my tattooed arm down, pressing my palm into the rock to summon Sheeba.

_Master! _

I grinned at the purple snake that protectively coiled around me, her tongue flickered at Sasuke and she blinked a couple times. _Master I can't harm him. Orochimaru says—_

"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK WHAT OROCHIMARU SAYS!" I snapped and faced Sasuke once more. "I don't wanna hurt you Sasuke! Stop doing this!"

Sasuke was gone in a flash and appeared behind me. Sheeba let out a hiss and head-butted him, uncoiling around me and slithering in front of me. _Your chakra is getting weaker master, if you keep pushing yourself like this—_

"Shut up!" I barked and formed more hand seals, bringing the sand around me in a vortex and hardening it into glass. I pushed my hands outward and shattered it into tiny bullets. Sasuke flipped and dodged each one of them, I didn't get it, even with his Sharingan how could he avoid something that widespread? Sheeba lunged forward to attack, but Sasuke beat the tar out of her, he was just too damn strong, even for Sheeba. _Dammit!_ "Sheeba get out of here before you get hurt!"

_But master…_

"DO IT!"

She didn't need to be told twice and vanished in smoke.

"Is that the best you can do N'kata? You call on a snake for two seconds and already you know you're too weak for me!"

"Shut the fuck up Sasuke! Why are you doing this? Sasuke please just tell me!" I shouted, unable to stop my tears from streaking down my face.

"Hn…don't start crying, it was bad enough I had to deal with Sakura bawling her case at me when I left! I don't want to have to put up with you too!" he huffed and leaped at me, grabbing my arms and pinning me against the rock wall behind us. He squeezed my wrist to the point where I thought he'd break it. "You're a stupid little girl overrun by emotion, and because of that you'll fail and getting your vengeance!" Sasuke laughed, it was a maniacal, evil laugh; I couldn't believe it was him…this wasn't the Sasuke I knew, far from it. He inched closer to me, until his lips were right next to my ear. "You're gonna get tired of him you know…he won't give you what you really want," his whisper sent a chill down my spine. My breath hitched as he moved both my wrists into one hand and moved the other one to my face. He wiped the tears from my eyes and immediately after he saw my guard dropped he drove his fist into my stomach. I keeled over and dropped to my knees but Sasuke kept one of my arms in his grasp, "One day, I'll say I told you so."

"AHHH! SASUKE!" Naruto yelled and within a fraction of a second Sasuke's grip ceased and an orange flash swiped him away. I couldn't even think straight, what the hell just happened? How could I let myself get like this? Sasuke was right about one thing; I was overruled by my emotions. Looking at myself now, I felt so useless, all Sasuke had to do was toy with my feelings and he brought me down to nothing. How the hell was I gonna kill Orochimaru if I couldn't even fight against my friend? As Naruto and Sasuke clashed against each other, my head was swimming, what can I do? If I interject in the fight I could hurt Naruto and I was also running low on chakra. No wonder Kakashi said I had to work on my control, even Gaara said I had to keep my focus up and being the fool that I am I didn't listen.

My heart pounded frantically inside my chest and I forced myself to stand up. I formed four hand signs and fused my chakra into the sand around me and shot it outwards to Sasuke. "Sand coffin!" I breathed, my chakra was almost drained, if I clenched my hand in a fist I wouldn't kill him, but I could certainly break every bone in his body. However, as my chakra got out of hand, the sand hardened to glass as it wrapped around Sasuke. _Shit!_ I cursed sinking to my knees once again, panting heavily. The glass started cracking as Sasuke struggled in its constriction. "NARUTO! GET HIM!"

The glass exploded outwards in an eruption of fire, blasting Naruto back. I surged my body forward, forcing myself to use more chakra. Spikes emerged from my knuckles, glimmering in blood. "Agh!" I gritted my teeth together and fought to pull the spikes back in, if I lost control of them I'd kill Naruto and Sasuke…like I almost killed Gaara.

"N'KATA! WATCH OUT!"

I forced my eyes open, only finding Sasuke's deathly red eyes. "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!"

_Shit!_

**A/N: Please Review and I apologize if this chapter was a bit jumpy at the beginning but I wanted to get to the fight scene ha! **


	14. Looking For Answers

I stared at my reflection in the glass that was engulfed in fire. _That was close._ The back of my shirt was shredded, spikes shot out, and curved high over my head, spreading into a giant barrier. My arm was searing as Sasuke's cursed mark spread across his body, making him something he wasn't. Giant hand shaped wings emerged from his back, his hair was dark grey and his eyes still glowered with his Sharingan. He didn't even look human anymore.

I heavily panted, pushing through the waves of pain that pulsed through my body, whatever Sasuke had become, it was somehow affecting me. Is this the full power of that curse mark? "S-Sasuke!" I screamed, wincing slightly as my glass jutsu broke down, leaving me vulnerable to him.

"Hn. Pathetic. You don't even have the strength to stand N'kata, seems your most powerful jutsu drains your chakra to the point of exhaustion!"

"AHHH! SASUKE!" Naruto leaped over me, driving his fist down, but Sasuke was quick to dodge and advanced on the overenthusiastic knucklehead. Black spots danced across my line of sight, threatening to send me into darkness. I could see my two former teammates fighting each other with the intent to kill.

_Naruto_

_Sasuke_

_How did it come to this? _

Tears leaked from my darkened eyes, I couldn't believe this was how it would end. I couldn't do anything to knock sense into Sasuke, but surely Naruto would. If anyone could do it, it was him. "I'm sorry Naruto…I won't be able to help you anymore."

* * *

"Did she wake up yet?" Gaara's voice sounded harshly and impatiently.

"N-not yet, s-she…"

"Gaara?" I whimpered, blinking my eyes open to a pale white ceiling. "I'm in the hospital again aren't I?" I chuckled lightly, trying to sit up.

"That shouldn't amuse you N'kata," Gaara scolded and turned to the nervous doctor. "I'd like to be alone with her, if that's okay."

The doctor nodded, sliding the door open and closing it behind her. Gaara sat next to me, taking my hand in his. "You were unconscious for three days and I'm certain its because you used the same jutsu you used to fight Shukaku, is that right?"

I nodded, hanging my head down at the realization that my jutsu could stop Shukaku but it couldn't stop Sasuke. That made no sense at all; Sasuke couldn't be stronger than a sand spirit could he?

"If you keep this behavior up you'll die, do you understand? Unless you learn how to control yourself with this power you have, you can't keep being so reckless with it."

Again I nodded, not really giving a damn about what Gaara had to say to me. Sure he was my sempai and my boyfriend and I should listen, but I was only interested in one thing. "Naruto…did he?"

"Naruto Uzumaki is almost as reckless as you," a ghost of a smile played on his features; it was weird seeing Gaara smile, it just wasn't like him at all. "He failed to bring back Sasuke and woke up an hour before you did."

"I see…" was all I could say before the door flung open and Naruto burst in with bandages all around his face and body. Jiraiya followed and rolled his eyes.

"You just recuperated from severe injuries Naruto! You shouldn't be moving around like this!"

"Hey shut up Pervy Sage!" Naruto shot and faced me. "I heard you finally woke up, I had to come see you."

"Hehe…I won't lie this isn't exactly the reunion I was hoping for," I chuckled.

Gaara rose to his feet and bowed his head slightly. "I'll let the two of you talk, once you're mobile N'kata we'll be heading back to the Sand Village," he said and took his leave with Jiraiya.

Naruto sat on the edge of my bed and stared at the ground. "We're going to get him back N'kata! I promised Sakura I'd bring Sasuke back to the village!"

"I know we will Naruto, but…if we want to stand a chance against Orochimaru…"

"I know and there's also the Akatsuki to worry about."

"Who?"

"The Akatsuki are a group of S-rank criminals, including Itachi Uchiha and they're coming after me. In your letter, you said Itachi took you to the Sand Village and he said the people he worked for were interested in you too—"

"Wait a minute!" I cut in, "What do you mean they're after you? What do they want with you?"

"Have you ever heard of the Nine-Tailed Fox? It's a demon spirit that was sealed inside me by the Fourth Hokage. Jiraiya said the Akatsuki wants the Nine-Tails power," Naruto explained. "I have about three years before they make another move, you on the other hand…I have no idea what the Akatsuki could possibly want with you."

Three years? That's how long Naruto had? I didn't know much about this Nine-Tailed Fox he was talking about but if it was anything like Shukaku then I could definitely understand why a bunch of criminals would be after such power. But I didn't have any demons or beasts sealed inside me so why would the Akatsuki be interested in me? What did I have to offer them? "So what are you gonna do then Naruto? I know full well you're not just gonna go with them quietly and there's also the whole ordeal with Sasuke."

"Yeah, well I don't know if anyone told you, but Orochimaru wants to take Sasuke's body to obtain Sharingan, that's why he was after him this whole time."

"What! Why the fuck doesn't anyone say this to me! For fuck's sake I mean really would it have been so hard to put that in one of your fucking letters—"

"Hey! Hey! Calm down N'kata! We're gonna find him before that ever happens! Besides Sasuke didn't get to Orochimaru on time so he has to wait three years before he can take Sasuke's body!"

"Well if that's the case, we'd better use those three years to get stronger!"

"Heh! You know it! You know you should train with me and the Pervy Sage, it'll be a blast!"

I chuckled slightly and leaned back into my pillow. "Well it's tempting I'll give you that much but I think I'm gonna stay in Suna."

"Wha—but with Granny Tsunade here you can come back to the Leaf, everyone misses you here."

"Well, me and Gaara…we're kind of a thing and he's been really helpful with my sand jutsus, also, I'm hoping Suna will give me some answers."

"Answers? What about?"

"My mother. My glass jutsu is a kekkei genkai, which means I must have inherited it from her or my father. But I don't know who my father is. My mother grew up in Suna so she must have a friend or someone there who knows about this power I have. I need to learn how to control it so next time we fight against Sasuke I won't be passing out and exerting my chakra every time I use it."

You must be Orochimaru's true progeny.

Those words haunted me, why would that ninja call me Orochimaru's progeny. It didn't help when I knew I looked like that snake...was I...was Orochimaru my…I forced my eyes shut and balled my hand into a fist. No! No there was no way.

"N'kata? You okay?" Naruto's voice broke though the uncomforting silence.

I nodded and faced the door, "I'm just feeling a little tired, I'm gonna try getting some sleep kay?

"Oh…right yeah! Well I'll be sure to see you off when you go back to Suna."

I was in the Leaf for another day before I took my leave with the Sand Siblings. I met the new Hokage Tsunade, who said I was more then welcome to return to the Leaf anytime I wanted. While there was a part of me that yearned to stay, I was actually fond of the desert, and of course I wasn't about to up and leave Gaara. I said goodbye to everyone, making sure to make a last minute visit to Hinata and met up with my new team.

"Took you long enough bitch," Kankuro complained rolling his eyes at me as we started down our path to Suna.

"Can it puppet boy, I wanted to see everyone before I left."

"Will you two knock it off?" Temari cut in pulling Kankuro and I away from each other. "We've got three days ahead of us and I personally don't want to deal with you two bickering."

* * *

_Three Days Later_

The minute we got back to Suna, the siblings left for the Kazekage building to send a report to the council. I had no interest in being bitched at my council members and decided to stay behind, I had my own things to do. It took me a while to find that Sand Shinobi from the chunin exams, the one who I ran into the day I found my mother dead but eventually after wandering through town I found him. The man's name was Yura and as it turned out he was new to the council. Lucky for me I found him on his day off. There was no hiding the fear in his eyes when he saw me, he remembered me and the fact I almost killed him (accidently but still.)

"It's you!" he gaped, almost amazed to see me alive.

"I'm N'kata, yes, I want to talk to you about my mother. You said the two of you were good friends."

Yura nodded and opened the door fully, letting me inside. "I'm sorry about what happened to your mother, when I went to see her, I had no idea that's what I'd find."

"It's fine," I cut him off curtly, not wanting to engage any further about my mother's death. "I wanted to ask you if my mother told you anything about a glass jutsu or anything about my father."

Yura frowned and turned away, signaling for me to follow him as he led me across the tatami floor. "Your mother kept a lot of secrets. She left one day and showed up years later pregnant. Never once did she mention who your father was or where she took off to for so long," he explained lifting up one of the mats on the ground to reveal a trap door. He opened the hatch and led me down the dank and creaky steps, it seemed like no one had been down here for years, it even smelled deserted. "She kept everything down here, at least everything involving her jutsu."

"So the glass jutsu is hers then?"

Yura nodded as we entered a dimly lit chamber filled with scrolls. It was a total mess, there was no way this was my mother's space. It looked like someone broke in and tried to find something. It was making me feel uneasy, but I ignored it. "You mind if I look through these?" I wondered raising a brow. Yura seemed reluctant but it's not like he could refuse me could he? I mean I had every right to learn about this power right?

"I suppose so, just lock everything up when you're done, I have to go and file in some reports will you be fine on your own?"

I nodded and thanked the man as he took his leave. The second I heard the door close I started opening the scrolls, and they were all blank. What the hell? I searched through every nook and cranny in that room and opened every single scroll and not one of them had a single dot of ink on it. Was there some kind of jutsu placed on the scroll so no one could see what was written on it? Or perhaps someone erased what was written to hide its secrets. Either way it was a problem. I spent hours pouring through hundreds of goddamn scrolls and there wasn't one fucking thing in them! "DAMMIT!" I cursed, and scanned the room over again. How could there be nothing? Absolutely nothing? Then again I never should have expected this to be easy.

I crossed over to the broken desk in the middle of the room and searched through the drawers, finding little knick-knacks and a puppet. "Great shuriken and a doll," I rolled my eyes, pulling the wooden mannequin out and sitting it on the desk. It looked like my mother, if she were made of wood and was only the size of a child's toy, but the resemblance was far too creepy. It was wearing a frilly pink dress and had big bouncy blonde curls. Its beady eyes stared at me and I stared right back, almost wanting the doll to tell me something. "Ugh! What the fuck am I doing?" I roared, whipping the doll off the table and sending it crashing into the wall, breaking apart once it made contact.

Fuck. I ran over to the little wooden replica of my mom and knelt down hoping it wasn't too damaged. As I picked up its broken body, my eyes glimpsed at a leather bound book not much smaller than the doll's torso. Tossing the puppet away I picked up the book and opened it, scanning the pages of my mother's writing:

_He's been acting strange lately, I don't know what's up with him but I'm worried. He showed up at my house today and gave me this puppet thing and said to keep it with me. I don't know about that, the thing's creepy, I feel like it's watching me. I just don't get it. I've tried to help Sasori in as many ways as I can but each day I feel like I'm losing him... _

I continued reading; never knowing my mother had the same power as me.

_I know he did it! And it's all my fault! I told Sasori about what the Third Kazekage was planning and not even a week later the two of them just vanished! I never should have said anything! The village is in shambles and enemy nations are closing in around us… _

_I saw Sasori today, it was actually pretty crazy, I thought I saw a ghost. He looks the same as the day he disappeared…_

_I've been tracking Sasori for over a year and it's led me…_

_Sasori._

_Sasori._

_Sasori._

_Sasori._

I slammed the book shut in frustration. All my mother did was make it painfully clear that she was morbidly obsessed with this Sasori guy. He was mentioned at least 100 times per fucking page. I clambered to my feet and started my way up the stairs, if I was lucky maybe someone could tell me something a bit more detailed about this man Sasori. As I stepped outside I noticed the night sky looming over me and Yura was still out. Odd. Clutching my mother's diary to my chest I started jogging back to my home, knowing I'd been gone for far too long and Gaara would not be too pleased with me.

**A/N: I know it's been a long time since I updated and I apologize but I was suffering a severe case of writer's block. Next chapter won't take as long haha. Please review and enjoy :)**


	15. One Night to Say Goodbye

A couple days later I found myself back at Yura's house, staring in the man's black beady eyes as he blocked me from entering the door.

"You're back?" Yura raised a brow. "I thought those scrolls led you nowhere?"

"They did," I answered. "But I found a diary down there and the only thing my mother could talk about was a man named Sasori," I continued watching the man's eyes widen at the mention of his name. "You don't know anything about him do you?"

Yura looked like a cornered rat, but he let me inside. He knelt down at the tatami table and signaled for me to sit. Reaching into his coat pocket he pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "Master Sasori won't be expecting you to show up in my place, but he knew this would happen eventually. In three weeks I'm supposed to meet Master Sasori and his partner Deidara at these coordinates," Yura explained handing me the paper.

"Why are you helping me?" I wondered arching a brow and opening the paper, revealing scratchy kanji saying Tenchi Bridge. I had no idea where that even was.

"I'm supposed to meet him there, but with the death of the Kazekage, I'm in no position to leave. When you find him, give him this," Yura continued, handing me a scroll with a sealing tag on it. "I'm not helping you kid, the fact that I'm allowed to tell you this means Master Sasori wants you to find him."

"In other words, I could be walking right into a trap," I huffed, tucking the scroll into my pouch and leaning across the table. "I will need to know where this bridge is you know," I crossed my arms.

"Head for the Village Hidden in the Grass, it's about a ten day journey west from here."

"Great, let me just tell my team a—"

"No!" Yura snapped with enough bite to make me jump. He never sounded intimidating but this time, he was serious. "You go alone, you tell no one, I don't want any of this getting back to me and I can't have anyone go looking for you!"

"Looking for me?"

"N'kata, if you decide to take this mission I'm giving you, you won't be coming back." Yura's eyes burned through mine, making me recoil.

"What happens if I say no?"

"Then I'll have no choice but to kill you."

My eyes went wide in realization of the trap I just backed myself into. Normally I would have fought, I would have laid waste to him, knowing I could. Just because he was on the council doesn't mean he nearly had the abilities I possessed. But I did want to find Sasori, and now I had his exact location. The only thing that made me hesitate was Gaara. Could I really drop my whole life here? If I did this I'd have to leave him. Then again if I say no I'm dead. Fuck!

"I'll do it." I bowed my head and rose from the tatami table. Yura gave me a map to reach the Tenchi Bridge by myself an instructed that I leave tonight or else. It seemed I had no home after all, I barely lasted a month in Suna. Heading back to the giant sphere where I lived, I kept my head down, what was I gonna tell Gaara?

* * *

"You're awfully quiet bitch!" Kankuro raised a brow as he slurped down his ramen. I barely touched my dinner yet I never looked away from it. I didn't even tell Kankuro to fuck off like I normally do. It was obvious something was bothering me, which pissed me off even more that I was doing a terrible job of hiding it. Rising from my chair I mumbled something about heading to bed early and disappeared up the stairs. Closing myself in my room I could feel my eyes tearing up. Why the hell was I such a fucking crybaby? I rummaged through my things and packed up a few things for when I'd disappear. I couldn't believe I was gonna do the exact same thing as Sasuke, I was gonna become a rogue, I was gonna abandon everyone and everything that was once dear to me. Even if I said it was to find more information out about my mother, I always had my revenge in my head. I was going to kill Orochimaru no matter who I ran into.

"N'kata?" Gaara's voice sounded on the other side of the door. I threw my pack into my top drawer and called for him to come inside. Looking into his intense green eyes made me choke up but I stopped myself from crying. Crossing over to him, I drove my fingers into his auburn hair and crashed our lips together. "I love you Gaara," I murmured deepening my kiss and let him slide his tongue in my mouth to meet mine. I began unbuckling the straps of his vest and pulled his shirt open, staring at his pale broad chest. Gaara pulled the gourd off his back and shed the clothing off, reaching for my shirt and pulling it over my head. Maybe this was cruel, after all, we'd never see each other again but at this point I didn't care. As our mouths locked, our hands continually removed different articles of clothing, until the two of us were naked on the floor. I could feel him at my entrance and whimpered in pain as he thrust, taking away my innocence. It didn't take me long before the pain turned to pleasure and the moans erupting from my mouth were euphoric.

Our bodies moved in unison, the both of us getting closer to feeling absolute bliss. My head arched back, allowing my lover to gently suck my neck. I didn't want to lose this, I didn't want to lose him, it was sad that I just realized that I did love him. The more unwanted thoughts festered in my mind, the less pleasure I felt even though that was the only thing I wanted. I was so close to the edge and like a damn fool I pulled myself back instead of jumping off. How could I lose love when I jut found out what it was? It was unfair, but it was my choice, I had no one to blame but myself.

A low grunt and a quick withdrawal signaled Gaara's release. Our lips met once again and he murmured, "I love you."

My teeth clamped down on my lip, if there was a hell that's where I was going. Leaving him would break his heart, and his heart was so damaged to begin with. The only thing I had to give him was my virginity, as much as I loved him, I'd never be able to give him my heart. I was lower than filth. I had no regrets of what I just did, but everything that would happen later this night I would.

**A/N: Sorry it's so short but I was hitting a bit of writer's block. Anyway, soon I'll be introducing my favourite artists and making the 3 years later jump and I've got a whole shit ton of ideas for that! R&R and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	16. A New Puppet

**A/N: Okay I forgot to mention this last chapter, I deleted the old Chapter 9 (Pein and Konan), basically I had an idea for it and then I decided against it and since the story makes sense without it and a some reviewers were really confused about it I scrapped it. so to anyone who read that chapter please disregard it thanks guys and I hope you're still enjoying my shenanigans :)**

"Who the hell is this danna?" Deidara asked the puppet master at the sight of the young girl on the bridge. He didn't even want to be here, his stupid danna always made him tag along to get reports from his spies, but he knew this girl that was probably his age was not one of them.

"Keep your mouth shut brat or I'll kill you! If you even paid the slightest bit of attention, we're supposed to be keeping an eye on this one, and now she's come right to us." Sasori explained

"You call that a convenience Sasori no danna? Hmm" the blonde teen crossed his arms over his chest, using the scope on his left eye to examine the other blonde waiting on the bridge. She was dressed in a long black cloak to conceal herself but any idiot could tell that wasn't Yura.

"What'd you say brat? Should we say hello?"

"Hmm. This will be interesting." Deidara smirked, shoving his hands into his detonating clay and letting the mouths on his hands chew it. She's about to bear witness to true art.

* * *

I wasn't sure exactly how long I was supposed to wait but this was ridiculous. I gave up my whole damn life to meet with this person and the damn fucker wasn't even showing up! With the scroll Yura gave me in hand I stood silently and waited. _Any fucking time would be great! _I thought rolling my eyes. The harsh wind whipped through my face, I wouldn't be able to hear anyone coming even if I wanted to. "SASORI?" I shouted, my eye catching something in the distance but I couldn't make it out.

"You know, you shouldn't shout like that…you'll attract unwanted attention hmm."

My eyes darted up to a giant white bird above me, sitting on its back was a young boy, maybe my age with long blonde hair, half of which was pulled into a high ponytail and his bangs covered the left side of his face. I recognized the cloak too; it was the same one Itachi wore. There's no way this kid was Sasori. "Who the fuck are you?" I snapped as the bird landed and the boy dismounted with a sly grin plastered on his face.

"Well don't you have a nice way of greeting people! I'm Deidara who the fuck are you?" he returned my sass, glowering at me with his one exposed bright blue eye.

"N'kata Chiyha," I answered, keeping my eyes on him cautiously. So far he wasn't posing a threat, but if he worked for the same organization as Itachi, he could be very dangerous. "Look I don't want to start a fight, I'm just waiting for someone, please ju—" my words were cut off when something cold and sharp pressed against my throat. The boy was right in front of me, which meant someone snuck up on me. _Fuck!_

"We know you're waiting for someone!" the assailant's voice was harsh and terrifying. I'd gulp but the slightest movement could end in me getting my throat slashed. "You yelled my name so loudly a deaf person could have heard you!" he barked.

"Y-you're S-aaah!" I yelped as the blade slanted, pressing deeper into my skin but not breaking it. I stared at the pointed tip of the white blade that curved into my neck, but there was no hand holding it, there wasn't even a person pressed up against me. My eyes scanned down the length of the weapon and found it was like some kind of spiny tail.

"Yes you pathetic brat! Now I was supposed to meet someone else in this location and you're here, I want an explanation now!"

"Whoa! Go easy on her danna, I thought we were keeping an eye on her hmm," Deidara interjected.

"We were brat, and now I'm demanding information from her, you need a goddamn play by play of everything we do?"

"Well aren't you crabby hmm."

My heart was racing, I opened my mouth and lipped the words but no sound came out, he'd end up cutting me if I spoke. I held out my hand holding the scroll and made sure Sasori could see it. Cold wind hit my neck as the blade pulled away and I instantly whipped around. Sasori didn't look like a normal human, not one bit. His body looked like a dome under his cloak, his straw hat covered his head and eyes while a bandana covered his nose and mouth. The weapon he held on me was a tail, which wrapped around the scroll in my hand and whipped it from me.

"You knew Jahna Chiyha right?" I finally blurted now that I was able to speak.

"What's that brat?"

"Jahna Chiyha was my mother, and she has a whole diary written about you…you were friends...or lovers or fuck I dunno I just want some fuckin' answers!"

"You have a foul mouth kid, I don't particularly care for it, but then again you're just like your mother in every way. Except she wasn't so stupid."

"FUCK YOU!"

"Watch your damn mouth before I fuck it! I'm not obliged to tell you anything." I really had no interest in playing this game. Yura told me that Sasori knew I'd come to find him eventually, there had to be a reason for it. I pulled the dirt around me into my hands as they hardened into bombs. Sasori was quick to notice. "Don't even try it brat, you'll regret it."

"Tell me what you know about my mother!" I demanded, throwing the bombs at both men and detonating them. I flipped off the bridge as it began to crumple down. I knew the explosion wasn't severe enough to kill them but it would do enough damage to get my point across. I could easily interrogate him now. As I plummeted down to the water, I began forming my hand seals to make a glass barrier to break my fall but I landed on something soft and mushy instead. My hands rested in thick clay, ahead of me was Deidara.

"That was pretty awesome hmm, you my friend understand the true concept of art hmm."

"I just blew up a bridge, there's nothing artistic about it, why'd you help me?" I wondered as he landed in the grass on the other side of the destroyed architecture. Both of us hopped off the bird and within a fraction of a second my body was constricted in chakra threads. "Hey! What the fuck!"

"I already told you to watch your damn mouth! I don't like to repeat myself, nor to I like wasting my time fighting ignorant brats like you!" a voice sounded from behind me. As the figure came into view I noticed he too wore the same black and crimson cloak. His messy red hair was the first thing that caught my eye, who the hell was he?

"Well looks like that explosion destroyed your precious Hiruko…looks like art really is an explosion after all!" Deidara snickered.

"Shut up before I kill you Deidara!"

"Ease up Sasori no danna, I'm not the one who blew it up," the younger man defended. I struggled in the chakra threads, glass spikes began emerging from my skin but I still remained bound. "Quit struggling! If you want any kind of mercy from me I'll want an apology! Understand?"

"Fuck yourself! The only reason I sought you out was because Yura said you were expecting me to find you! You know something about my mother; you know something about me and where I fucking came from! I'm not about to be your little tool just because you're not allowed to kill me," I spat and cried out when his knee connected with my spine, forcing me to the ground. He sat on top of me and grabbed my arms, holding them behind my back.

"Deidara, you can leave," Sasori spoke. "It seems I need to punish this arrogant little girl."

"Whatever you say danna, just don't go overboard okay?" Deidara smirked and hopped back on the clay bird and took off.

"I don't want to keep my partner waiting, so this won't take too long," the man sneered pulling my arms back and setting his knee into my spine. "I still want that apology."

"If I give you your damn fucking apology will you leave my arms alone? They've already been broken one too many fucking times" I played along as my chakra readied itself to let the spikes emerge from my back. I looked back into the man's bright chocolate eyes and waited for him to nod. Smiling my chakra burst and the glass spikes shot out from my back, tearing my shirt as it always did and stabbing Sasori. I stayed still for only a moment before crawling out from under him and pulling my spikes back into my skin. "So much for getting information, guess I'll have to look somewhere else," I mused to myself and started walking away.

"Now you've pissed me off!"

_No fucking way!_ My body suddenly flung, moving against my will and slammed into a rock. The force was powerful enough to knock the wind out of me and before I could desperately take in a breath, I whiplashed back. I caught sight of those stupid chakra threads on my back before I hit the ground. I managed to suck air into my lungs but I was unable to do anything else. Somehow he had immobilized me with those strings.

"You know this is fucking annoying!" I panted, hearing the ground crunch as Sasori stepped closer to me. "Tell me something, how the hell are you alive?" I grinned slightly, meeting bright brown orbs. Sasori knelt down, all the while moving his hand up, revealing the same chakra strings that held me down. He twitched his fingers and I sat up. That bastard was controlling me! "C'mon don't give me the goddamn silent treatment! And will you stop with the chakra thread shit? It's annoying!"

He still ignored me, we stared at each other for a while and it wasn't long before I figured out that he was contemplating what he was gonna do next. He couldn't kill me for whatever reason, but I could tell he wanted to and he was really fighting off his urge to end my life. I still didn't get how he survived my attack. His cloak was torn and his body was filled with stab wounds but he wasn't even bleeding. "What the fuck are you?" I gaped, rising to my feet at his command.

"I'm your worst fucking nightmare! And since I'm not allowed to kill you, I will do whatever I can to get back at you for not only destroying Hiruko but damaging my body, making repairs is a real pain in the ass. Until I fix Hiruko, I'm gonna need a new puppet."

_Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!_

**A/N:Okay guys, my writer's block is atrocious right now so please bear with me haha! If you have any suggestions or ideas or anything you'd like to throw at me please feel free to do so! In the meantime R&R and I hope you guys liked the chapter :) **


	17. Deal With The Devil

_Is it worth it?_

_Gaara?_

_Getting your vengeance and your information…is this life you've made for yourself worth it all?_

I couldn't stop the tears from cascading down my face. The cost of getting my revenge, of finding out who I really was and where I came from was throwing away everything I once loved.

_You never even said goodbye._

"I couldn't!" I finally shouted to Gaara's voice ringing in my head.

"Stop screaming," he said somberly, fading away.

"GAARA! I'M SORRY!"

"I said shut up!'

My eyes snapped open meeting chocolate brown orbs, Sasori. It didn't take me long to realize I was bound to a table in a room filled with puppets; if Kankuro were here he'd be in heaven. Staring down my body I noticed my shirt was gone, leaving my practically flat chest in just my bra. When the hell did he do this? I don't even remember being knocked out. I did however, feel a tad grateful that he left my shorts on.

"What the fuck is this?" I shouted, fighting against my restraints. I've been petrified many times but even seeing my mother's dead body didn't compare to this kind of terror. Sasori merely stood over me, examining my semi-exposed torso. "Stop fucking staring at my chest and fucking answer m—aagh!" I cried out as he gagged me. My feet kicked wildly, my wrists stung and burned under the rope as I desperately tried to pull myself free.

"I'm trying to concentrate N'kata, Killing you would be so much easier, I would have had you finished by now," he mumbled to himself. "Oh and I wouldn't bother using any of your jutsu, I took the liberty of placing a chakra seal on you. Being damaged once was bad enough; I don't need that happening again. You've caused me a lot of trouble N'kata and I assure you, you will pay for it," he continued tracing his hand along my chest and down my stomach, stopping at the waistline of my shorts. "But not just yet, rest assured I will ruin your body as punishment for ruining mine."

I cursed every profound word I could think of but underneath the gag it only sounded like muffled screaming. If he wasn't going to _ruin_ me as he so eloquently put it then why the fuck did he have me tied down like this? Motherfucking sadist! He ignored my muffled curses but it was clear he wanted me to shut up by his next action. His hand clenched around my throat and squeezed so hard I thought he'd take the life right out of me. His grip was inhuman, I yelped in pain but attempted to keep quiet, knowing that's what he wanted. This guy's fucking crazy!

_Is it worth it?_

_Shut up Gaara! You have no idea how much I regret this!_

Desperately I tried to get air but Sasori refused to let go of me, smiling at my weak attempts of protest. "You really are just like your mother, you're so pathetic!"

Sasori pulled the gag out and released me from his death grip, allowing me to suck in a mouthful of air. Panting, my eyes glazed over, my racing heart began to slow down as it was no longer in threat of stopping. Hot tears trickled from the corner of my eyes, making the man in front of me roll his own brown orbs. "Stop that, I hate seeing women cry…nothing aggravates me more than that," he brought his arm down, making me flinch but he merely swiped the tears spilling from my eye away with his thumb. "Now, it's going to take some time for me to repair myself and Hiruko, in the meantime you will act as my puppet do you understand? I will be in full control of your chakra and all of your jutsu until you have no further use for me." Sasori explained in a calm demeanor.

"Okay…but I have a few conditions," I proceeded cautiously, it's not like I could flat out refuse him, after all I did seek him out but I had to get my answers. I didn't want to make him snap but if there was any way for me to negotiate with him, I was gonna at least try.

"Such as?" Sasori crossed his arms, his brow twitched but at least he was listening to me.

"I want to know more about my mother and my kekkei genkai, you obviously know something about it if you can control my chakra. Second, if ruining my body means what I think it means, you won't lay a finger on me and finally…I'm out to kill a man named Oro—"

"Orochimaru. I'm familiar with that pungent snake, I'm intrigued at your notion."

"He killed my mother and took my friend. I'll do whatever it takes to end his fucking life; it's one of the reasons I came to find you. If you agree to my terms I'll do whatever the hell you want and not make a single complaint."

A small smirk stretched on Sasori's face and he started untying my wrists. "I won't lay a hand on you unless you want me to and I'll teach you as much as I can about your kekkei genkai. However the second I hear you complain or you break your end of our little bargain, I will punish you for it. I also have a couple rules I'd like to add to this. So long as we are under this contract, you are my possession therefore you are not to interact with any other man physically, especially the brat! That is something I will not tolerate."

"Done." I had no interest in physical interaction with other men anyway. I had every intention of returning to Gaara once this was all over, assuming he'd even look at me again. Even if he hated me forever, just like he should, I was his and his alone.

I held my newly freed hand out; although I'd have to act as this maniac's living puppet at least I'd be gaining something from it now. Sasori shook my hand and like that I closed my deal with the devil. I had nothing left to lose, right?

_To Be Continued..._

**A/N: Okay guys this is it for Part One! I'd like to thank everyone whose read this the whole way through. Part Two will be coming soon!**


End file.
